Ohtani 432-Foot Homer Lifts Dodgers Past Athletics 9-3

Shohei Ohtani hit his 18th home run of the season, a 432-foot three-run blast off Matt Krook in the sixth inning that pushed a two-run Dodgers advantage to five, as Los Angeles defeated the Athletics 9-3 on Monday night, June 29, at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento to open a three-game series.

Inning-by-Inning: How the Runs Came In

The Dodgers scored first in the second inning. Teoscar Hernández reached base and Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy followed with an RBI single to right, scoring Hernández to make it 1-0. Dalton Rushing then singled to right, scoring Kyle Tucker for a 2-0 Dodgers lead.

The Athletics countered with a three-run bottom of the second. Colby Thomas hit his third homer of the season, a 395-foot shot to right-center off Eric Lauer, cutting the deficit to one. Rookie Joshua Kuroda-Grauer selected to the Athletics' roster that same day singled to right in his first Major League at-bat to score Athletics Max Muncy and tie the game 2-2. Henry Bolte's fielder's choice then grounded out to shortstop while Alika Williams scored, giving the Athletics a 3-2 lead.

The Dodgers retook control in the fourth. Dodgers Max Muncy connected for his 17th homer, a 422-foot solo shot to right-center off Gage Jump, tying the game at 3-3. Andy Pages followed with his 16th homer, a two-run drive to left that scored Miguel Rojas and pushed Los Angeles ahead 5-3.

Ohtani's sixth-inning shot off Matt Krook settled the game. With Rojas and Rushing on base and nobody out, Ohtani launched a 432-foot homer to right, according to the official MLB highlight, making it 8-3. Freddie Freeman added an RBI single to left in the eighth, scoring Rushing again, to close out the 9-3 final.

Pitching: Lauer Goes Six, Jump Takes the Loss

Eric Lauer started for Los Angeles and delivered six innings, allowing all three Athletics runs on nine hits with two strikeouts, per the official ESPN box score. The three runs came on Thomas's second-inning homer, Kuroda-Grauer's RBI single, and Bolte's fielder's choice all in that one inning.

Gage Jump, the 23-year-old Athletics starter who entered with a 3-1 record and 2.04 ERA, surrendered five runs on 11 hits across 4⅔ innings. Two of those runs came on Dodgers Max Muncy's 17th homer and Andy Pages's 16th. Matt Krook was charged with three runs in a third of an inning, including Ohtani's three-run blast. Justin Sterner followed with a scoreless inning one hit, two strikeouts. Kade Morris allowed Freeman's eighth-inning RBI single while completing two innings, bringing his total to one earned run allowed on three hits.

Two Max Muncys: The Same Name, Same Birthday, Same Spot in the Lineup

The most unusual detail of the night had nothing to do with home-run distance. For the first time in Major League Baseball, both players named Max Muncy appeared in the same game each at third base, each batting seventh, facing each other from opposite dugouts.

MLB confirmed this was only the third time since 1901 that two players sharing the same name faced each other while playing the same position and batting in the same lineup slot. The previous two instances occurred in a single Blue Jays-Marlins series in June 2000, when Alex Gonzalez and Álex González both started at shortstop and hit seventh.

The Dodgers' Max Muncy is Maxwell Steven Muncy, born August 25, 1990, originally drafted by the Athletics in the fifth round in 2012 before signing with Los Angeles in 2017. He has won three World Series titles with the Dodgers, including the back-to-back championships in 2024 and 2025. The Athletics' Max Muncy is Maxwell Price Muncy, born August 25, 2002, the 25th overall pick in Oakland's 2021 draft. The two players are completely unrelated.

Their shared August 25 birthday 12 years apart exactly is confirmed by the official Athletics player profile and the Dodgers player page. On the A's Cast podcast before Monday's game, the younger Muncy described how closely he had followed the older Muncy's career moves: "I knew when he was with the A's. I knew when they let him go and the Dodgers picked him up. All the transactions, I had known because every time I went over to my grandparents' house they would keep me updated."

Both contributed to the scoring. The Dodgers veteran drove in two runs his second-inning RBI single and the 17th homer and went 2-for-4. The Athletics infielder went 1-for-3 with a walk and scored a run in the second.

Hernández Returns, Athletics Make Six Roster Moves

Hernández, sidelined since May 29 with a left hamstring strain, was activated from the injured list on game day and started in left field, batting fifth. Ryan Ward was optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City to clear roster space.

The Athletics made heavier changes on the same morning. The club placed shortstop Jacob Wilson and catcher Tyler Soderstrom on the 10-day injured list, per the official Athletics transaction report, while selecting Kuroda-Grauer to the big league roster. Kade Morris and Darell Hernaiz were recalled, José Suarez was placed on the paternity list, and Michael Kelly was designated for assignment.

The Dodgers finished the night at 55-30 the best record in baseball with their lead over the San Diego Padres in the NL West stretching to 11.0 games. The Athletics fell to 40-45, fourth in the AL West. The full Dodgers schedule shows games two and three of the series at Sutter Health Park on June 30 and July 1. For current NL West standings, MLB's official table is updated after each game. Fans tracking Tuesday's series game can also read about how the Padres closed out their Braves sweep, a result that contributed to that 11.0-game margin.