Baseball: Ohtani crushes 27th homer to propel Dodgers past Royals

Los Angeles (Kyodo) -- In a thrilling game on Wednesday, Shohei Ohtani delivered a stellar performance, hitting his 27th home run and leading the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 4-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals. The two-way superstar smacked a first-pitch sinker from Daniel Lynch IV with one on and one out in the third inning, securing a 3-2 lead for the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium.

Following his impressive debut in six games, Ohtani also contributed with a single in the seventh inning, ultimately finishing the game with a batting average of 2-for-4. Expressing his happiness with the win, Ohtani stated, "I was trying not to pull it and intent on hitting one toward the center. It went in a nice direction." Meanwhile, in Toronto, Kazuma Okamoto came back from missing two games due to left knee pain and made an immediate impact with the Toronto Blue Jays, defeating the Boston Red Sox 6-4.

Rookie Okamoto doubled and scored the game's opening run in the second inning, followed by a crucial single to left center in the eighth inning, which sparked a five-run inning for the Blue Jays. Okamoto expressed his satisfaction with the victory, saying, "I wanted to advance the runners in any way possible." Seiya Suzuki and the Chicago Cubs also made their mark, contributing a single and going 2-for-4 as they secured a 12-6 win over the Washington Nationals.