Shohei Ohtani’s numbers after his first at-bat at Dodger Stadium included one hit and a missed run.
In Thursday’s game against the Cardinals, Mookie Betts led off with a walk in the bottom of the first inning, and Ohtani threw the ball down the right field line and it rolled into the wall.
He circled around first base and then around second base, but the designated hitter didn’t notice that Betts was pinned to third base.
The Dodgers then had two runners on base, with Ohtani out, and six pitches later, Freddie Freeman singled and Betts finally scored.
“Actually, I passed the front runner too quickly,” Ohtani told reporters after the match through an interpreter.
“So I really couldn’t hear it.” [third-base coach] Dino [Ebel] on time. This is a situation we have never experienced in spring training, so we will check with Dino and make adjustments. ”
Los Angeles won 7-1 against the Cardinals in his home debut against the team for which he signed a $700 million contract in the offseason, with Ohtani going 2-for-3 with one walk and one RBI.
This allows the Dodgers and Dave Roberts to operate a lineup with Betts, Ohtani and Freeman (who won a total of four MVP awards before they all assembled in Los Angeles) in the top order, and Thursday He recorded 5 at-bats. -8 with 2 home runs and 3 walks.
What you need to know about Shohei Otani’s accusations against his former interpreter
A lawyer representing Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani has accused former interpreter and longtime friend Ippei Mizuhara of “grand theft” in connection with a $4.5 million bombing.
After signing a 10-year, $700 million contract this offseason with the Angels, the two-time AL MVP reportedly had huge gambling debts that needed to be repaid.
Mizuhara initially said ESPN Ohtani had offered to repay the debt, but later changed his story and claimed he had no knowledge of the Eight-Nine wire transfer from Ohtani’s account to the alleged illegal bookmaker.
According to ESPN, the Ohtani camp “denied” Mizuhara’s initial story.
He was fired shortly after the Dodgers’ season opener against the Padres in Seoul, South Korea, and while Ohtani’s camp is seeking a law enforcement investigation following an investigation by the National Tax Agency, Ohtani has not yet spoken publicly about the situation. .
“I’ve never bet on baseball,” Mizuhara told ESPN. “That’s 100 percent. We knew that rule. … We’ll have a meeting in spring training about that.”
Both sides maintain that Ohtani is not involved in any gambling.
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“I was the only one who couldn’t hit a home run,” Ohtani said. “But overall, I think we played a pretty good game today.”
But the backdrop to the Dodgers’ season has changed dramatically over the past eight days. The team’s season-opening trip to Seoul, South Korea, was overshadowed by a scandal involving interpreter Ippei Mizuhara, who is accused of having racked up $4.5 million in gambling debt and stealing the money. Otani will bear the cost.
Ohtani denied knowing of Mizuhara’s actions involving illegal bookmakers, telling reporters in a statement just before the start of the stateside regular season that he had never bet on baseball or any other sports and that Mizuhara’s outstanding payments He said he had never sent money to a bookmaker to cover the issue.
“I had no idea this was happening until a few days ago,” Ohtani said Monday in his first public comments since his firing. “Ippei stole money from my account and lied to me.”
