Ohtani’s first-inning – Shohei Ohtani’s first-pitch leadoff home run in the opening inning helped the Los Angeles Dodgers cruise to a 4-0 win over the San Diego Padres at Petco Park on Wednesday night. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts singled out that moment as the mental spark, after Oh
The Dodgers didn’t just score first on Wednesday night at Petco Park — they scored before the game even really started.
Shohei Ohtani crushed the very first pitch he saw from Randy Vasquez for a leadoff home run. instantly putting Los Angeles ahead 1-0 and setting the tone in a matchup that decided the NL West lead heading into the weekend. Dave Roberts didn’t hide what that meant. “Leading off with a homer got him in a good place mentally,” the Dodgers manager said.
Ohtani finished the night as the definition of a difference-maker on both sides of the ball. Offensively, he went 1-for-4 with a walk. On the mound, he logged five scoreless innings, allowing three hits, two walks, and striking out four.
This wasn’t just another strong outing for the 31-year-old. The homer was his eighth of the season and the 27th leadoff homer of his career. It also became his 21st leadoff homer as a Dodger. tying him with Joc Pederson for the third-most in franchise history. And in a stat that feels almost too precise to be real. Ohtani became the first starting pitcher to hit a leadoff homer on the first pitch of a game in both the regular season and postseason.
After being removed from the lineup during his previous three pitching starts as part of a workload-management plan. Ohtani returned to full two-way duties. Even with this being his shortest outing of the season and the first time he failed to complete six innings. the results stayed sharp. He lowered his ERA to 0.73 through eight starts. allowed only four earned runs across 49 innings. and has held opponents scoreless in five starts this season.
The Dodgers’ lead didn’t completely settle things until the fifth inning, when San Diego loaded the bases with one out. Ohtani escaped the jam by inducing a first-pitch 6-4-3 double play from Fernando Tatis Jr. — and then walked off the mound after preserving the shutout.
Once Los Angeles had that under control, the offense kept adding weight. The Dodgers tacked on insurance with a Teoscar Hernandez sacrifice fly, a Kyle Tucker RBI single, and Hernandez’s ninth-inning solo homer into the second deck.
The bullpen trio closed the door on the Padres and kept the score at 4-0: Edgardo Henriquez, Blake Treinen, Kyle Hurt, and Will Klein completed the shutout as Los Angeles improved to 31-19. The win also pushed the Dodgers 1.5 games ahead of the Padres in the division standings.
For Ohtani. the night carried a clean line from the moment the first pitch arrived to the moment San Diego’s threat ended — and Roberts’ focus made sense. When he leadoff-homers that way, it doesn’t just put runs on the board. It puts the whole game under the kind of control you can feel from the first inning.
Shohei Ohtani Dave Roberts Los Angeles Dodgers San Diego Padres Petco Park Randy Vasquez Fernando Tatis Jr. Teoscar Hernandez Kyle Tucker Edgardo Henriquez Blake Treinen Kyle Hurt Will Klein
That first pitch homer basically decided it huh.
I saw Ohtani hit and then I turned on something else lol. But scoring 4-0 at Petco is wild. Mental spark sounds like a coach excuse but hey he worked.
Wait so he’s like a pitcher AND a hitter… but they took him out before because of workload?? Then he comes back and throws 5 scoreless but doesn’t go 6? I’m confused. Also “first starting pitcher” doing leadoff homer twice regular and postseason like… that’s the important stat? Idk.
I swear Petco always feels like the ball dies in the air, so when he goes yard on the first pitch that’s gotta be some kind of magic. Dave Roberts saying it was a mental thing—sure, but also the Padres pitcher probably didn’t have it. And tying a record with Pederson?? Dodgers really collect stats like baseball trading cards.