Shohei Ohtani hit a towering solo homer in his return to Japan, taking Chicago Cubs pitcher Nate Pearson deep with a ball that barely cleared the fence in right-center field and helping the Los Angele

Ohtani is the second Japanese-born player to hit a home run in an MLB game played in Japan, joining Hideki Matsui. Matsui hit a two-run home run for the New York Yankees against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at the Tokyo Dome on March 31, 2004.

This week wasn’t about the defending World Series champions visiting Japan, or Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s transformation, or even Roki Sasaki’s major league debut.