MLB All-Star Game: Shohei Ohtani obliterates Tanner Houck splitter for his first All-Star Game home run

Shohei Ohtani skipped the Home Run Derby.

He made up for it in Tuesday’s All-Star Game.

The Los Angeles Dodgers slugger and NL home run leader got the scoring started with a bang. With no outs and two men on in the third inning, Ohtani obliterated a 2-0 offering from Boston Red Sox pitcher Tanner Houck.

Houck left an 89 mph splitter over the middle of the plate, and Ohtani left no doubt, with a massive swing that sent the ball 400 feet into the right-field stands.

The moon shot gave the NL a 3-0 lead. But that was all the scoring the NL would do as the AL rallied for a 5-3 win.

The home run was Ohtani’s first in his fourth career All-Star Game. It was also the first home run in an All-Star Game by a Los Angeles Dodger since Mike Piazza in 1996.

The reigning AL MVP, Ohtani leads the NL with 29 home runs in his first season with the Dodgers. He opted out of Monday’s derby to limit stress on his surgically repaired pitching elbow. The two-way superstar had Tommy John surgery on his right elbow in the offseason and is not pitching in his first season in L.A.

But there’s nothing wrong with his swing, as he has proven with a sizzling start at the plate for the Dodgers, one that continued Tuesday. Through 94 regular-season games, Ohtani is slashing .316/.400/.635 with 29 home runs, 69 RBI, 75 runs scored and 23 stolen bases. In addition to leading the league in home runs, his slugging percentage and runs-scored tally are also best in the NL.

It’s a line that’s made him the betting favorite to win NL MVP, despite his being sidelined from the mound.