Shohei Ohtani hit his 14th home run of the season in a 2-for-5, three-RBI outing to help the Los Angeles Dodgers sweep the New York Mets with a 10-3 victory on Wednesday.
The Japanese superstar had rested the second game of the previous day's doubleheader, a 3-0 win for the Dodgers, while dealing with a right hamstring bruise suffered during the team's previous home stand.
But he showed little sign of the ailment as he went deep over left-center field in the eighth inning at Citi Field for his first home run since May 17. The two-run blast followed an RBI groundball single to center field in the fifth.
Ohtani climbed to second in the National League home run standings with the big fly off right-hander Jorge Lopez's 0-2 sinker. The home run came amid a six-run barrage sparked by Will Smith's solo blast.
Smith homered twice and pinch-hitter Jason Heyward also cleared the fence as part of a 16-hit day for the Dodgers.
In other MLB action, Shota Imanaga took his first loss in the majors after surrendering seven runs over 4-1/3 innings of the Chicago Cubs' 10-6 defeat to the Milwaukee Brewers.
Imanaga (5-1) had only given up five earned runs through his first nine starts of the season coming into the game at American Family Field in Milwaukee.
The 30-year-old Japanese lefty allowed eight hits, including a two-run homer to Christian Yelich in the first. He gave up another two-run bomb to Blake Perkins as part of a five-run third inning.
Yu Darvish (4-3) was charged with the San Diego Padres' 9-1 loss to the visiting Miami Marlins, exiting after three innings in which he surrendered three runs on six hits.
