Ohtani hits home run in Dodgers' Tokyo exhibition game

TDT | Manama

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Shohei Ohtani fever in Tokyo reached boiling point Saturday as the Japanese baseball superstar hit a home run in his first game in a Los Angeles Dodgers uniform in his home country.

Ohtani is in the Japanese capital with the World Series champion Dodgers to open the Major League Baseball season with two games against the Chicago Cubs next week.

The 30-year-old was in action as the Dodgers beat Japan's Yomiuri Giants 5-1 in a warm-up game at the Tokyo Dome, which was packed to its 45,000-capacity rafters.

He gave the crowd what they were looking for, smacking a huge home run in the third inning.

"It was great to see so many fans at an exhibition game," Ohtani told reporters.

"It really made me feel like I was back in Japan for the first time in a while."

It was Ohtani's first game in Japan since he helped his country win the World Baseball Classic two years ago in Tokyo.

But it was his first ever appearance in an MLB uniform in his home country, having left Japan for the Los Angeles Angels in 2018 before joining the Dodgers in late 2023.

Yurie Sakamune, who was at the game with her husband Junji, told AFP that the couple had entered 10 times into a lottery to buy tickets and had paid 50,000 yen ($335) in total after snagging a pair.

"It's like a dream," said the 30-year-old, dressed in a Dodgers uniform with Ohtani's name and number 17 on the back.

"I've been working every day to see Ohtani and I've put up with all the tough times for this. It's become like a life goal to see him."

A huge cheer went up as Ohtani stepped to the plate to open the game, drawing a walk from Giants starting pitcher Shosei Togo.

He crushed the next pitch he faced, slamming a two-run home run into the stands.

"Shohei, to be quite honest, in the last seven years has represented almost single-handedly the people of Japan," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said before the game.

"So for him to come back here in person, it's going to be an emotional night for a lot of people."