Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani has a way of finding himself in the middle of baseball history.
Usually, that’s good news for the Dodgers. But on Tuesday night, it was good news for Ohtani’s former team, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
That’s because Ohtani managed to line into a triple play, one of the rarest defensive feats that can take place on a diamond.
Ohtani stepped to the dish with runners on first and second and nobody out. The lefty slugger ripped a line drive up the middle.
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Angels shortstop Zach Neto was shaded to the center of the diamond and snatched the liner out of thin air.
The Dodgers’ base runners both froze on the liner, but Neto was so close to second that he could simply step on the bag right away to double that runner off, and in one motion, he saw a chance to get the same at first, so he threw over there where the third out was eventually completed by tag.
THE @ANGELS TURN A TRIPLE PLAY! pic.twitter.com/QImHsg9T7T
— MLB (@MLB) August 13, 2025
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Ohtani later hit a home run. According to Sportscenter, it was the first time a player had hit into a triple play and hit a homer in the same game since 2016, when Freddie Freeman did it for the Braves. Freeman, of course, is now Ohtani’s teammate on the Dodgers.
The Angels got the last laugh. They tied the game in the ninth on a sacrifice fly, then won it in the 10th on a Jo Adell walk-off single.
It’s been a good stretch for the Angels, who are now just four games below .500, while the Dodgers are struggling and have fallen into a tie for first place in the NL West with the Padres.
On this night, though, it was all about the triple play.
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