Shohei Ohtani shines on mound and plate as Los Angeles Dodgers beat Colorado Rockies

Two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani once again starred with both bat and ball as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Colorado Rockies 4-1 on Wednesday, though the Japanese sensation was still left frustrated by aspects of his performance.

Ohtani blasted a 424-foot leadoff home run to straight centre field in the opening inning before producing six no-hit innings on the mound, allowing just one run to lower his ERA to an outstanding 0.82.

Despite the dominant outing, Ohtani admitted he was unhappy with his control after issuing four walks and hitting one batter.

“Of course you want to avoid the hits, but the result of that was a lot of walks today,” Ohtani, speaking through an interpreter, said after the Dodgers’ fifth consecutive victory.

“That’s something that I just don’t really want to do.”

The Rockies were four outs away from being no-hit before Tyler Freeman singled off Tanner Scott in the eighth inning for Colorado’s only hit of the game.

Their lone run came in the fourth inning after a walk and a hit-by-pitch were followed by two fielder’s choice groundouts.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts compared Ohtani’s demanding standards to those of legendary pitcher Clayton Kershaw.

“A guy that wore No. 22 that we remember,” Roberts said. “Very similar.”

Ohtani has now hit three leadoff home runs as a starting pitcher, something no player had achieved before him. Yet the reigning star still believes there is room for improvement.

“I know I say the same thing a lot, but it’s just the feel,” Ohtani said. “When something’s off offensively, defensively, I could tell, and I just really couldn’t find it.”