Shohei Ohtani cannot be stopped.
The Los Angeles Angels superstar launched a mammoth 493-foot home run Friday night in the bottom of the sixth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The blast, his 30th homer of the year and 15th in the month of June alone, is the longest home run hit in MLB this season and the longest of his career. Per MLB’s Sarah Langs, it’s the longest home run hit by an Angels player in the Statcast era (since 2015) and, according to MLB’s Brent Maguire, it’s the longest home run hit at Angel Stadium by anyone during that time.
Ohtani is just the fourth American League player to hit 15 home runs in the month of June. Included in that short list is Babe Ruth (1930) and Roger Maris in 1961, the year he broke Ruth’s longstanding single-season record.
Ohtani’s 15 home runs in June is also an Angels record for home runs in a month and moves him into another exclusive club: He’s just the ninth player ever to hit 30 home runs before the calendar turned to July. The Orioles’ Chris Davis was the last man to do it in 2013; the others to achieve the feat are Babe Ruth (twice), Ken Griffey Jr. (twice), Sammy Sosa (twice), Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Luis Gonzalez and Albert Pujols.
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Unfortunately for Ohtani, he didn’t get much help from the rest of his teammates. His solo homer cut the deficit to 5-1 and the Angels went on to lose 6-2. As a team the Angels managed just four hits, with three-time MVP Mike Trout (two) and Ohtani — who seems well on his way to adding a second MVP award — accounting for three of them. Ohtani ended the night 1-for-2 with two walks and scored both of the Angels’ runs.
Contributing: Associated Press