Shohei Ohtani first in Majors to 20 homers in 2025

CLEVELAND — The Dodgers’ game against the Guardians on Tuesday marked the first time in three games that Shohei Ohtani did not start a game with a bang.

After hitting a leadoff home run against the Mets on Sunday and the Guardians on Monday, Ohtani began Tuesday’s game by striking out looking on a Tanner Bibee fastball.

It was the last time that Bibee would make Ohtani look mortal.

After being intentionally walked by Bibee in the second inning, Ohtani slugged a 362-foot opposite-field home run in the fourth to increase Los Angeles’ lead to 4-0 in what would become a 9-5 win.

With the home run, Ohtani became the first player to reach 20 this season.

Tuesday’s game was the Dodgers’ 55th game this year, making Ohtani the third player in Dodgers history to hit 20-plus home runs in that time period, joining Gil Hodges in 1951 (21) and Cody Bellinger in 2019 (20).

The homer wasn’t the classic Ohtani blast. Most of the time, his homers are majestic moonshots into the upper deck in right field. This time he stayed with a Bibee cutter away and poked it over Progressive Field’s home run porch in left field. It wouldn’t have been a home run at Dodger Stadium.

“He has a lot more margin for error,” manager Dave Roberts said with a chuckle.

It’s the second time this season Ohtani has homered in three straight games (May 14-16), and the 10th time in his career.

In addition, Ohtani is now tied for third with Bellinger (June 2017) and Adrian Beltré (August 2004) for the most homers by a Dodger in a calendar month, with 13. Pedro Guerrero (June 1985) and Duke Snider (August 1953) are tied for the most, with 15.

“There’s a bit of jealousy there,” Max Muncy said. “He does stuff that no normal human being can do.”

Neither Ohtani nor Bibee thought it was gone off the bat, as Ohtani sprinted out of the batter’s box before breaking into a jog once it cleared the fence, while Bibee stared slack-jawed at the ball’s path before mouthing “Oh my God” when the ball cleared the fence.

“I think a lot of people thought it was a popup,” Bibee said. “I mean, I did, too. I thought I was out of the inning. Not a lot of lefty hitters can go to the opposite field at our park.”

Ohtani finished the game 1-for-3 with the home run, two walks and two strikeouts.

“He didn’t get it flush. … It was like a helium ball,” Roberts said.

Although Ohtani couldn’t make it three straight days with a leadoff home run, it was another majestic blast that showcased why he’s one of the best hitters in baseball.

Ohtani is now slugging .776 in May, which is more than 200 points better than his career mark for the month (.545).

“He’s just been much more disciplined in the strike zone,” Roberts said.

And if that wasn’t enough, he’s closing in on a return to the pitching mound, too.

One of the pitchers tasked with holding down the rotation in Ohtani’s absence is Dustin May, who put together another strong start. He allowed three runs on four hits over five innings to go along with a season-high nine strikeouts. He’s racked up 25 strikeouts over just 16 innings in his last three outings.

Although May didn’t stay on the mound long enough to set a career high in innings pitched for a season (he’s now just one-third of a frame away from eclipsing his career high of 56), he did his best to manage a dangerous Cleveland lineup. His lone blemish came when he allowed a three-run home run to Daniel Schneemann in the fourth inning on a fastball that was down the middle.

“The swing and miss was there, just one bad pitch,” May said. “Need to try to limit that going forward.”

The Dodgers’ other home runs came from Michael Conforto — who homered for the first time since April 5 — and Muncy, who homered for the third time in May.

Muncy and Conforto entered Tuesday’s game hitting a combined .212, but Tuesday served as a reminder of what they can bring to the table for a team that needs more production from the bottom of its lineup.

“I think that we’re seeing a lot of signs of life, and it just adds that length that we expected at the beginning of the season,” Roberts said.