By Rory Carroll
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Shohei Ohtani moved closer to becoming the first player in Major League Baseball (MLB) history to hit 50 home runs and snatch 50 stolen bases in a single season with a monster shot over the right field wall in Miami on Tuesday.
The Los Angeles Dodgers slugger has 48 home runs and 48 stolen bases so far this season, an MLB first, with 11 games remaining on his NL West-leading team’s schedule.
“No pressure,” the Japanese player said through an interpreter on Tuesday, according to MLB.com.
“[I’m] just trying to maintain quality at-bats no matter the situation, something I’ve been trying to do over the course of the season.”
Ohtani ended a four-game streak without a homer by obliterating a pitch from Marlins starter Darren McCaughan and sending it to the second deck of LoanDepot Park for a two-run shot that put the Dodgers on the board in their eventual 11-9 loss.
Ohtani would tie Shawn Green for the most homers ever hit by a Dodgers player in a single season with his next long ball. Green hit 49 homers in 2001.
The 30-year-old two-time MVP has more than delivered for the Dodgers since being acquired in the off season on a record 10-year, $700-million contract.
The two-way threat is not pitching this season as he recovers from off season elbow surgery but his feats at the plate have him poised to become the first designated hitter to win the MVP award.
The Dodgers play the Marlins in the second game of their three-game series on Wednesday.
After the series in Miami the team return home to host the Colorado Rockies and San Diego Padres before finishing out the regular season on the road against the Rockies.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; editing by Clare Fallon)
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