Shohei Ohtani’s first season as a full-time starting pitcher and designated hitter since 2023 is going better than perhaps even the Los Angeles Dodgers imagined.
On May 27 against the Colorado Rockies, Ohtani did something in one game that no player in the modern era of Major League Baseball had achieved in an entire career.
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As the Dodgers’ leadoff hitter, Ohtani hit a home run in the bottom of the first inning to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead.
As the Dodgers’ starting pitcher, Ohtani then completed six innings without allowing a hit. The Rockies didn’t record a hit until the eighth inning of a 4-1 loss.
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According to Stats Perform, no player had done both of those things in their career — let alone a single game. Ohtani is the first pitcher to lead off a game since Game 4 of the National League Championship Series last season. Of course, Ohtani was the pitcher in that game, too.
By limiting the Rockies to one run in six innings, Ohtani’s ERA now sits at 0.82. He is one inning shy of the minimum needed to qualify for an ERA title, which he could potentially do in his next start.
As a pitcher, Ohtani has limited opposing hitters to a .147 batting average, two home runs, and seven runs (five earned) through the first two months of the season.
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As a hitter, Ohtani is hitting .269 with nine home runs, 36 runs scored, and 30 RBIs.
The last pitcher to allow no hits through the first six innings of a game, and hit a home run at any point in his start was the Cubs’ Jake Arrieta in 2015. The last Dodgers pitcher to do it was Hall of Famer Don Drysdale in 1959.
Ohtani also joined Drysdale on a short list of pitchers who have hit a home run in three consecutive starts. Ken Brett (1973), Bob Lemon (1949) and Wes Ferrell (1933) are the only other pitchers to have done so since 1900.
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