Shohei Ohtani's "Dad Power" Strikes Again: Rushes Home 12 Minutes After Game to Be with Kids

On the day the news of his second child's birth was made public, Ohtani rejoined the team and demonstrated his "dad power" once more, launching a home run in his comeback game that equaled his season's hardest-hit ball. However, the Dodgers ultimately fell 3-2 at home to the Baltimore Orioles, with starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto taking the loss. Ohtani left the ballpark just 12 minutes after the game ended to head home.

After taking only one day of paternity leave, Ohtani went 0-for-3 in his first three at-bats, including a strikeout. But leading off the bottom of the ninth inning with the team trailing 3-0, he connected on a sinker that caught the middle of the plate from right-handed reliever Andrew Kittredge, sending it over the center-field wall and sparing the Dodgers a shutout. In his first game following the birth of his second child, Ohtani delivered a memorable home run. The exit velocity was 114.6 mph — not only the hardest-hit ball of the game but also matching the 114.6 mph homer he hit against Foster Griffin on April 5 of this year, tying for his personal season-best. Notably, this was the second time Ohtani has homered off Kittredge, the first being on June 25, 2021. In their only two career plate appearances against each other, Ohtani has homered both times.

After Ohtani's solo shot, the Dodgers added another run via a walk, a hit, and an error, but ultimately fell short by one run against the Orioles.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto started and pitched six innings, throwing 102 pitches with six strikeouts and two walks, allowing six hits and three runs, earning his fifth loss of the season (7-5). He gave up runs in the second and fourth innings, both times surrendering consecutive hits to start the frame.