Shohei Ohtani gives up his first homer of the season, then hits a 2-run shot of his own

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Shohei Ohtani gave up his first home run of the season when Minnesota’s Byron Buxton took him deep. He promptly answered with a two-run shot of his own.

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ two-way superstar left a breaking ball over the plate on his second pitch of the game and Buxton drove it 410 feet to the left field pavilion on Monday night. It was just the second time in six appearances as an opener this season that Ohtani has allowed a run.

“A lot of mistakes over the plate, especially with two strikes,” Ohtani said through an interpreter. “The execution of it, and I should have been expanded, but it was thrown at places where hitters could hit it.”

Batting second in the lineup, Ohtani topped Buxton in the bottom of the inning. He blasted a two-run shot – his 35th of the season – 441 feet into center field off David Festa, giving the Dodgers a 2-1 lead after Mookie Betts led off with a walk.

He struck out in his final three at-bats. Betts has replaced Ohtani in the leadoff spot in an attempt to end the worst slump of the former MVP’s career.

Ohtani said he had no hesitation about the move after Roberts texted him.

“Anything that helps everybody feel like they’re a little bit more comfortable to hit I’m happy to do so,” he said.

Ohtani is the first pitcher to give up a homer and hit a homer in the first inning of the same game since Philadelphia’s Randy Lerch in a 23-22 win over the Chicago Cubs on May 17, 1979. He’s also the first Dodgers pitcher to homer in the first inning since Rick Rhoden at Montreal in July 1977.

“Sho got clipped the first batter of the game but was able to go scoreless the rest of it,” catcher Will Smith said. “He was commanding the ball, got out of a couple jams, had both heaters going, the slider was really good tonight, was getting ahead of guys, so that was really positive. That’s a really good sign for him.”

The Dodgers ended an overall three-game skid with a 5-2 victory.

Ohtani allowed one run and four hits in three innings. He struck out three and walked one on 46 pitches, 30 for strikes.

“I just felt that the location and command wasn’t what it was the last few outings,” Roberts said. “There was a lot more misfires tonight than there had been.”

Ohtani was pitching for the first time in nine days.

“Maybe a little rust, but he calibrated when he needed to and made pitches when he needed to,” Roberts said. “There were some really good throws in there.”

He pitched three scoreless innings against the San Francisco Giants on July 12 as he continues to work his way back from elbow surgery. He did not pitch at all last season, his first for the Dodgers.

Ohtani remains on track to stretch out to four innings in his next outing, however, Roberts wasn’t sure when that would be.

“We do have some off days coming up,” the manager said. “They could play into when he’s pitching.”