DENVER, Aug 20 (Kyodo/APP): Shohei Ohtani hit his first home run in six games Tuesday, his National League lead-tying 44th of the season, during the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 11-4 battering of the Colorado Rockies.
Kyle Schwarber of the Philadelphia Phillies also went deep the same day against the Seattle Mariners to keep the home run title race between the two sluggers equal.
Two-way star Ohtani belted a line drive to right center at Coors Field with two outs in the second inning, a solo shot off a 1-1 four-seamer from Austin Gomber (0-7), making it a 4-0 game.
Ohtani went 1-for-5 in the game in which the Dodgers led 7-0 in the third before the home team cut the deficit to three runs in the sixth.
The Dodgers pulled away in the three-run seventh when Ohtani, with runners on the corners and one out, plated a run while grounding into a force-out.
Rookie Tomoyuki Sugano of the Baltimore Orioles, meanwhile, held the Boston Red Sox to a run on five hits over five innings but did not get a decision in a 4-3, 11-inning win.
Sugano gave up his sole run on a balk with two outs in the third with runners on second and third, handing the lead to the Red Sox.
The Orioles scored three runs in the fifth before Sugano got the hook following an 85-pitch effort with three strikeouts. But the Red Sox scored two runs in the ninth to deny the right-hander his 11th win.
“I’m getting better as a whole. I think my splitters were good and fastballs were also functioning quite well,” he said.