LOS ANGELES-- Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani hit a milestone moment in his major league career on Wednesday afternoon, clubbing a 440-foot home run to center field against the visiting St. Louis Cardinals.
The hit was Ohtani's 1,000th hit of his eight-season big-league career and his 39th homer of the season.
Ohtani, whose blast pushed Los Angeles to a 2-1 advantage, joined Ichiro Suzuki (3,089) and Hideki Matsui (1,253) as the only Japanese-born players to reach 1,000 hits in MLB action.
The two-way star, three-time MVP and five-time All-Star also became the fourth active Dodgers with 1,000 hits alongside Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts and Teoscar Hernandez.
Ohtani also started on the mound for Los Angeles on Wednesday, allowing one run on two hits while striking out a season-high eight across four innings of work.
Ohtani is in second season with the Dodgers after playing six years with the Los Angeles Angels. He won two of his three MVP awards with the Angels.
Jordan Walker had a game-tying single in the eighth inning and Masyn Winn scored the go-ahead run on an error as the visiting St. Louis Cardinals rallied for a 5-3 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday afternoon.
Brendan Donovan and Lars Nootbaar brought home runs without getting the ball out of the infield as the Cardinals went 4-2 against the Dodgers this season while winning a pair of series.
Four St. Louis relievers held Los Angeles without a run over the final five innings, while right-hander Riley O'Brien pitched 1 1/3 innings for his first career save. JoJo Romero (4-3) did not allow a run over one inning.
