Shohei Ohtani and Ronald Acuña Jr. made World Baseball Classic history on Saturday night, becoming the first pair of players to hit leadoff home runs in the same WBC game. The feat occurred during the quarterfinal match between Japan and Venezuela.
Acuña Jr., batting for Venezuela, started the game with a 401-foot homer off Japan's Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the World Series MVP. It was his second home run of the tournament.
Ohtani responded in the bottom of the first inning, crushing a 427-foot drive off Venezuela's Ranger Suárez. The ball left his bat at 113.6 mph and tied the score at 1-1. Ohtani's home run was his third of the WBC.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, no regular or postseason game had previously featured leadoff home runs by two players who had won MVP awards. Ohtani, 31, is a four-time MVP who led the Los Angeles Dodgers to consecutive World Series titles. Acuña Jr., 28, won the 2023 National League MVP and helped the Atlanta Braves win the 2021 World Series.
