Dylan Hernández is a sports columnist with the Los Angeles Times. Before that, he was the Dodgers beat writer. Hernandez grew up in South Pasadena and graduated from UCLA in 2002, after which he worked at the San Jose Mercury News for five years.

With his home run in Thursday’s 3-1 victory over the Rockies, Ohtani became one of only three Dodgers’ hitters to mash 28 home runs in the first 82 games of a season. MLB commentator Sarah Langs noted Ohtani’s achievement on X:

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts revealed two-way player Shohei Ohtani would make his third start since returning from Tommy John surgery against the Ka