Shohei Ohtani's bat both hurt and helped the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday.
In a tie game against the Los Angeles Angels, the Dodgers star lined into a triple play to wipe out a scoring opportunity in the sixth inning. The liner was perfectly placed for Angels shortstop Zach Neto to haul it in, stop on second base, then throw out Dalton Rushing at first base.
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It was the eighth triple play in Angels history. Ohtani was visibly stunned as the Angels ran off the field, while Rushing appeared to be in some pain after an awkward lunge, though he remained in the game.
Per Statcast, the ball was 86.8 mph off Ohtani's bat and carried a .480 xBA (meaning a 48% chance at becoming a hit based off its exit velocity and launch angle). Theoretically, balls like the ones Ohtani hit have about a 50/50 chance at becoming a hit, which would have likely yielded a run for the Dodgers.
Instead, Neto, a defensive standout at short, made one of the best plays of his career.
The play was badly timed for the Dodgers, who entered Tuesday nursing a one-game lead over the San Diego Padres in the NL West. They managed to erase a couple two-run deficits on their way to a 5-5 tie, but missed an opportunity to take the lead in extraordinary fashion.
Ohtani found redemption in the ninth, though, clubbing a go-ahead homer against his former team, his 43rd long ball of the season.
The Dodgers bullpen went on to falter again, though, as Alex Vesia allowed the Angels to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth and needed to escape a bases-loaded situation just to send the game to extra innings.
It was already an eventful day for Ohtani, as it was widely reported in the morning that he and his agent Nez Balelo were sued over a Hawaiian real estate deal gone bad, in which Balelo allegedly clashed with the project's developers after Ohtani signed an endorsement deal in 2023.
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