Shohei Ohtani had a little fun with a heckler during Sunday’s 8-2 win over the Padres.
A fan sitting near the Dodgers’ dugout had been giving the star a hard time during the course of the game at Petco Park.
So when Ohtani hit a ninth-inning solo home run to extend Los Angeles’ lead to six, he made sure to let the fan have it right back.
Before Ohtani went to high-five his teammates, he walked over to where the fan was sitting and high-fived him — sending the Padres fan shrinking into his seat — and patted the fan on the back.
“There’s a fan sitting right by the Dodger dugout that’s been giving Ohtani heck all day,” Dodgers play-by-play broadcaster Joe Davis said. “After he homers, he says, ‘How you like that?’”
“I’m sure it made his day,” Davis continued. “That’s a story he’ll always be able to tell.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and several of his teammates loved the move by Ohtani to give the fan a bit of a hard time back, with Teoscar Hernández tossing sunflower seeds at Ohtani and Roberts high-fiving him as he walked down the steps.
“It was very out of character from Shohei, [but the heckler] was wearing him out the whole game,” Roberts said, per the Associated Press. “So it was good to see Shohei initiate a high-five from him. That was great. That was fun. It was good to see Shohei show his personality.”
The home run was part of a big win for the Dodgers, who avoided the sweep after dropping games on Friday and Saturday at Petco Park.
Ohtani’s home run was his 45th of the season and moved him into a tie with Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber for second-most home runs in the National League this season.
Prior to the home run on Sunday, Ohtani had been 0-for-10 with two walks in the series.