The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani slugged his 175th career home run on Friday (12 April), tying Hideki Matsui for the major league record by a Japanese player.
A night after his name was cleared in the federal probe of his ex-interpreter Ippei Mizuhara’s gambling scandal, Ohtani homered in his first at-bat against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium, a solo shot to left for his fourth round-tripper of the season.
He also had two doubles as the Dodgers lost 8-7 in 11 innings, giving him a career 1,001 hits in the US and Japan combined.
The 29-year-old tied former New York Yankee Matsui, who appeared in 1,236 games over a 10-year MLB career. Ohtani reached the milestone in his seventh season stateside, in 731 games.
Future Hall-of-Famer Ichiro Suzuki, never a power hitter, is a distant third on the list with 117 homers.
