Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani immediately makes Padres pay with 1st pitch home run

Shohei Ohtani took one individual loss to the San Diego Padres Monday with Rodolfo Duran picking him off. But the Los Angeles Dodgers star swung his way toward retaliation from that. This time on the first pitch of Wednesday’s game.

Randy Vasquez challenged Ohtani right away by firing a four-seam fastball. Ohtani made him pay for testing him out the gate, sending this ball nearly 398 feet into the air.

Shohei Ohtani gets right to it.

1st pitch, 1st homer of the game for the Dodgers pic.twitter.com/rAC5TXAd0D

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) May 21, 2026

The solo home run set the tone for the visiting Dodgers. The blast toward center field featured an exit velocity of 111.3 miles per hour.

Ohtani wasn’t through delivering highlight moments inside Petco Park. He even earned the start on the mound for manager Dave Roberts.

The right-handed pitcher started off by grounding out Fernando Tatis Jr. before facing Miguel Andujar. He fanned him with an 87 mph sweeper for the third strike, plus on pitch No. 11.

Shohei Ohtani battles through an 11-pitch at-bat and gets Miguel Andujar for his first strikeout of the day pic.twitter.com/019c2PGFjD

— Dodgers Nation (@DodgersNation) May 21, 2026

Ohtani’s arm wasn’t tired after that sequence, though. He threw five pitches to Gavin Sheets next, striking him out with a 98 mph fastball for the third out of the first inning.

Ohtani began the evening throwing four different pitch types against San Diego. He flipped from the fastball, to curve, to the sweeper all the way to the splitter. He turned to the fastball nine times through his first 22 throws on the hill.

However, Ohtani’s early blast comes amid some notable hitting struggles for the Dodgers star. The two-time Most Valuable Player at one point was hitting at an average of .265 before Wednesday’s meeting. Perhaps this homer will start new momentum for the multiple World Series winner.

The post Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani immediately makes Padres pay with 1st pitch home run appeared first on ClutchPoints.