Shohei Ohtani continued his stirring season for the Los Angeles Dodgers by stealing his 50th base of the year in the first inning of Thursday’s game at the Miami Marlins.
Ohtani is two home runs shy of posting the first 50-homer, 50-steal season in major league history. The Dodgers have nine regular season games remaining after Thursday.
After swiping his 49th bag in Wednesday’s 8-4 win at Miami, Ohtani stole third base after doubling against Edward Cabrera to lead off Thursday’s game. He scored on Will Smith’s sacrifice fly three batters later.
Ohtani added his 51st steal an inning later after plating Max Muncy with a two-out single.
Ohtani’s 51 steals this season are second to Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz (64), while his 48 home runs trail only New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge (53).
The leading National League MVP candidate, Ohtani entered Thursday batting .287 with 110 RBIs and a .978 on base-plus-slugging percentage. He joined the Dodgers in December on a 10-year, $700 million contract.
Los Angeles (90-62) began play Thursday with a 3 1/2-game lead in the NL West in pursuit of its 11th division title in the last 12 years.