Shohei Ohtani delivered Major League Baseball’s sixth 40-40 season in dramatic fashion with a walk-off grand slam to rally the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 7-3 victory against the visiting Tampa Bay Rays on Friday.
After stealing his 40th base in the fourth inning, Ohtani went deep against Rays left-hander Colin Poche for his 40th homer. He joined Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Alfonso Soriano and Ronald Acuna Jr. in the 40-40 club.
Enrique Hernandez hit a game-tying home run in the fifth inning, and right-hander Bobby Miller had nine strikeouts and no walks over six innings as the Dodgers extended their winning streak to five games.
Los Angeles won for the 11th time in its past 14 games to maintain a four-game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West and a 4 1/2-game advantage over the San Diego Padres.
Junior Caminero hit his first home run of the season and Christopher Morel also went deep as the Rays lost their second consecutive game and fell to 2-3 to open a 10-game West Coast road trip.
Caminero gave the Rays a 1-0 lead three batters into the game with his first home run in 10 games this season and his second in 17 career games over the past two seasons.
Tampa Bay increased its lead to 3-0 in the third inning when Morel hit a two-run home run off Miller down the left field line. It was Morel’s third home run in 20 games since joining the Rays from the Chicago Cubs before the trade deadline. It was his 21st home run overall.
Ohtani is the fastest to reach the 40-40 mark, reaching it in Game 129. Soriano had the previous record, getting it in Game 148 for the Washington Nationals in 2006.
The Atlanta Braves’ Ronald Acuna Jr. was the last to deliver a 40-40 season when he hit 41 home runs with 73 steals and was named National League MVP last season.
The Dodgers tied it in the fifth inning on Hernandez’s three-run home run to chase Alexander from the game. It was Hernandez’s eighth of the season.
Michael Kopech (4-8) pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn the win for the Dodgers. Rays right-hander Manuel Rodriguez (2-3) was charged with two runs in the ninth inning to take the loss.