Shohei Ohtani’s three-run blast caps memorable All-Star week for Dodgers

Shohei Ohtani was unable to participate in this week’s Home Run Derby. But the Dodgers slugger did not leave All-Star week in Texas without a memorable big fly.

In the third inning of Major League Baseball’s 94th All-Star Game on Tuesday night at Globe Life Field, Ohtani stunned the crowd of 39,343 in the way he knows best: by hitting a 400-foot home run halfway into the right-field stands in the eventual 5-3 American League victory over the National League.

“At this point it’s normal for him,” said teammate Teoscar Hernández. “It’s Shohei being Shohei.”

It was Ohtani’s first home run in the Midsummer Classic, where he is now 2-for-6 with three hits in four appearances (he also has a win as a pitcher, making him the only player in MLB history with both a home run and a win in the event).

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It was the first home run by a Dodgers player in the All-Star Game since Mike Piazza in 1996, and only the second by a Japanese-born player, following Ichiro Suzuki’s inside-the-park home run in the 2007 game.

But it was also the NL’s only hit on Tuesday, meaning Ohtani missed out on Most Valuable Player honors, which instead went to Jarren Durran of the Boston Red Sox, a former Long Beach State and Cypress High star. He broke a 3-3 tie in the fifth inning with a two-run home run.

“Overall, I didn’t really hit well in the All-Star Game, so I’m just relieved that I got a good ball in play,” Ohtani, who also had a walk in the first inning, said through interpreter Will Ireton. “I was really just focused on having a normal at-bat, like I was in the regular season.”

Ohtani’s shot opened the scoring Tuesday night, off a 2nd-and-0 splitter by Boston Red Sox right-hander Tanner Houck. Like everyone else in the ballpark, Ohtani began to admire the drive as soon as he hit it, leaning back in the batter’s box for a long stare before spinning his bat and rounding the bases.

From the dugout, Dodgers teammate Freddie Freeman celebrated the victory with his arms, while Dodgers pitcher Tyler Glasnow let his jaw drop.

As Ohtani came around third, he also threw his arms in the air — the same hip-swaying, Dragon Ball Z-inspired celebration of a long ball that accompanied the 29 home runs he hit for the Dodgers in the first half of the season, leading the NL in home runs.

“It felt inevitable that he would do it,” Freeman said. “He steps in the box and you think he’s going to come through. Pretty cool.”

The Dodgers had three other players in Tuesday’s All-Star Game. A night after winning the Home Run Derby, Hernández started in center field but went 0 for 2. Catcher Will Smith entered the game in the sixth inning and singled. But in the next at-bat, Freeman came off the bench and grounded into a double play, stepping on the foot of Cleveland Guardians first baseman Josh Naylor for an awkward out that required video review.

Glasnow, a first-time All-Star, watched the game from the dugout because he was unable to take the mound due to a back injury that put him on the injured list. Glasnow has pitched this week and expects to return from the IL next week if he is eligible.

But as usual, no one could top Ohtani’s performance on Tuesday night.

Houck said he tried to throw a low splitter to Ohtani, but he threw the ball too far over the center of the plate.

“Just a good swing,” he said. “The guys went out there today to swing.”

Oakland Athletics closer Mason Miller, a flame-throwing 25-year-old right-handed rookie, had better luck against Ohtani in his final at-bat in the fifth inning, striking him out with a pair of 100-mph fastballs and a swing-and-miss slider below the zone.

“I didn’t give him one,” Miller told the Fox broadcast. “That’s for sure.”

Speaking to reporters in the eighth inning, Ohtani was asked if he really hoped for an NL comeback, given his MVP candidacy (no player from the losing team has won the All-Star Game MVP award since Carl Yastrzemski in 1970).

“In an ideal world, yes,” he said with a laugh.

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Still, “it’s an honor to be here,” he added.

Even without award-winning hardware, Ohtani once again managed to be a headliner at the biggest baseball night in the world.

Glove is missing

When Freeman searched his locker in the visiting NL club’s dressing room a few hours before the game, he realized something was missing.

“Where’s my glove?” he asked out loud, laughing. “I really don’t have a glove.”

It turns out that while packing up his belongings at the end of the Dodgers series in Detroit on Sunday, Freeman had accidentally put his first baseman’s glove in the bag he had sent to Los Angeles.

A Little League-esque scene ensued.

Freeman first reached out to NL starter Bryce Harper, knowing that he and the Philadelphia Phillies star player use Rawlings as an equipment sponsor.

But before the first pitch, Freeman discovered that New York Mets slugger Pete Alonso had an extra glove with him in Texas.

“He was like, ‘Hey, I don’t have a glove,'” Alonso chuckled. “I was like, ‘Well, that’s a problem. I have an extra one. Do you want to use one of mine?'”

Alonso joked that he didn’t charge Freeman anything for the rent either, because he was an old friend of theirs from when they played against each other in the NL East when Freeman was still playing for Atlanta.

“No,” he said. “Just friendship money. That’s it.”

Daddy duty

When Hernández became the first Dodgers player to win the Home Run Derby on Monday night, a few current Dodgers were missing from the celebration.

Although Glasnow continued to play until the end of Hernández’s dramatic victory, the club’s three other All-Star players were all gone by the end of the three-hour battle.

What was the reason, at least for Smith and Freeman?

They were on father duty, taking their young children to Texas this week.

“I had to leave early,” joked Smith, whose daughter Charlotte is almost 2. “My daughter wasn’t into it.”

The same was true for Freeman, who was in town with his three sons, Charlie, Maximus and Brandon.

Hernández said he didn’t give his teammates a hard time, joking that he barely noticed until he saw social media users wondering Tuesday why they were absent.

“In the end it was a good day,” he said. “I won. So that’s all that matters.”

During batting practice for Monday’s Derby, Freeman’s eldest son, 7-year-old Charlie, drew a warm round of applause from the crowd as he chased high balls.

In the visiting locker room after Tuesday’s All-Star Game, all three boys clambered over their eight-time All-Star father.

“That’s what makes it fun for me now,” Freeman said. “Obviously it’s still fun to play in All-Star Games. But when you have the joy of him coming and fucking balls and stuff like that. To see their faces, that’s what makes it fun.”

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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.