Shohei Ohtani broke Hideki Matsui’s major league record for homers by a Japanese-born player with a huge two-run shot in the third inning, and the Los Angeles Dodgers snapped their three-game skid with a 10-0 victory over the New York Mets on Sunday.
Ohtani crushed a 423-foot line drive off Adrian Houser (0-2) deep into the right-field bleachers for the two-time AL MVP’s fifth homer of the year and the 176th of his six-plus seasons in the majors with the Angels and Dodgers. That eclipsed the record set by Matsui, the former Yankees slugger who played 10 seasons in North America.
Tyler Glasnow (4-1) struck out 10 and held New York to seven singles over eight strong innings while Los Angeles snapped the Mets’ six-game winning streak and salvaged the finale of a disappointing 3-6 homestand.
Andy Pages hit a three-run shot for his first career homer during the Dodgers’ eight-run fifth inning, while Freddie Freeman and Will Smith also delivered two-run doubles and Mookie Betts had an RBI single in the fifth.
After winning 12 of 15 since their 0-5 start to the season, the Mets were shut out for the second time this year. New York had won eight of its previous nine.
Houser couldn’t control the Dodgers’ potent lineup, giving up seven runs on eight hits and four walks in his fourth start for his new team.
Los Angeles chased Houser with six straight batters reaching base in the fifth. After Betts drove in Pages, Ohtani singled off Houser’s leg before Freeman and Smith delivered back-to-back doubles.
In his second at-bat of the inning, Pages put the Dodgers up 10-0 with a long drive to center off Grant Hartwig for his first homer in his fifth major league game. The 23-year-old Cuban outfielder got his first big league callup this week and debuted last Tuesday.
Glasnow then delivered the shutdown start needed by the Dodgers after they gave up 15 runs to the Mets in the previous two games. Working quickly and efficiently, the veteran right-hander became the first Dodgers starter to pitch into the eighth inning since Clayton Kershaw did it July 15, 2022.
Glasnow, who fell ill during a rocky start against Washington six days earlier, didn’t walk a batter, didn’t give up an extra-base hit and allowed just one Mets runner to reach second base before the eighth.
New York loaded the bases with three singles in the eighth, but Glasnow struck out pinch-hitter Tyrone Taylor to end the inning, pumping his fist to a standing ovation from the crowd of 49,287.
