Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani passes Hideki Matsui for most MLB homers by a Japanese-born player

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shohei Ohtani made another piece of baseball history Sunday when he surpassed a record set by one of his heroes.

The Los Angeles Dodgers slugger crushed his 176th career homer in the third inning, breaking Hideki Matsui’s record for most home runs by a Japanese-born player in Major League Baseball.

Ohtani drove Adrian Houser’s throw deep into the right field stands in the third inning of Los Angeles’ 10-0 victory over the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium.

The two-run shot gave Ohtani one more MLB home run than Matsui, the former Yankees slugger who played the final 10 seasons of his 20-year pro career in North America. Ohtani just started his seventh season in the Majors.

Honestly, I was just relieved to end it all, Ohtani said through his interpreter, Will Ireton.

Ohtani’s record-breaking blast traveled 400 feet with an exit velocity of 110 mph, putting the Dodgers ahead 2-0.

Ohtani admired and followed Matsui growing up in Japan during the prime of Matsui’s MLB career. Still, Ohtani said the record “wasn’t something I was aware of when I first started my career here, but as I got to know more about it,” he started to pay attention to his place behind Matsui.

Hideki Matsui was a great ballplayer, a great home run hitter and a world champion, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I know Shohei admired him, so it’s a big deal if he exceeds that goal. I know whatever kind of target Shohei faces, he’s trying to take them all down.

The homer was Ohtani’s fifth in his first 24 games for the Dodgers, who signed the two-time AL MVP to a $700 million contract last winter.

It’s great, said teammate Tyler Glasnow, who pitched eight scoreless innings for the Dodgers. “I’m sure he’ll have many more records while we’re playing here.”

Ohtani had not homered in his previous seven games, but he went 2 for 3 with a single, a walk and two runs scored in the Dodgers’ blowout win, which snapped a three-game losing streak.

“We just tried a backdoor slide with that, but we just couldn’t keep it out of the offensive zone,” Houser said. “If you leave a pitch up the middle to him, he’s going to put a good swing on it, just like he did.”

Ohtani has 13 RBIs and a whopping 1.094 OPS since joining the Dodgers, and he’s seemingly unaffected on the field by the troubles of his longtime interpreter and good friend, Ippei Mizuhara. Federal prosecutors this month accused Mizuhara of stealing more than $16 million from Ohtani to pay off debts and support his gambling addiction.

Before joining the Dodgers with the largest contract in baseball history, Ohtani hit 171 home runs in six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels, including an AL-leading 44 home runs last season, while winning his second MVP trophy. Ohtani hit a career-high 46 home runs in 2021, his first MVP season.

When asked if he also hopes to match Matsui’s famous playoff balance when he finally reaches the MLB postseason, Ohtani joked that he’s currently more focused on breaking Roberts’ mark for most home runs by a Japanese-born player in a Dodgers uniform.

Roberts leads Ohtani in that competition 7-5.