Shohei Ohtani gives up his first homer of the season, then hits a 2-run shot of his own

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shohei Ohtani gave up his first home run of the season when Minnesota's Byron Buxton took him deep. He promptly answered with a two-run shot of his own.

The Los Angeles Dodgers' two-way superstar left a breaking ball over the plate on his second pitch of the game and Buxton drove it 410 feet to the left field pavilion on Monday night. It was just the second time in six appearances as an opener this season that Ohtani has allowed a run.

“A lot of mistakes over the plate, especially with two strikes," Ohtani said through an interpreter. "The execution of it, and I should have been expanded, but it was thrown at places where hitters could hit it.”

Batting second in the lineup, Ohtani topped Buxton in the bottom of the inning. He blasted a two-run shot — his 35th of the season — 441 feet into center field off David Festa, giving the Dodgers a 2-1 lead after Mookie Betts led off with a walk.

He struck out in his final three at-bats. Betts has replaced Ohtani in the leadoff spot in an attempt to end the worst slump of the former MVP's career.

Ohtani said he had no hesitation about the move after Roberts texted him.

“Anything that helps everybody feel like they’re a little bit more comfortable to hit I’m happy to do so,” he said.

Ohtani is the first pitcher to give up a homer and hit a homer in the first inning of the same game since Philadelphia’s Randy Lerch in a 23-22 win over the Chicago Cubs on May 17, 1979. He's also the first Dodgers pitcher to homer in the first inning since Rick Rhoden at Montreal in July 1977.

“Sho got clipped the first batter of the game but was able to go scoreless the rest of it,” catcher Will Smith said. “He was commanding the ball, got out of a couple jams, had both heaters going, the slider was really good tonight, was getting ahead of guys, so that was really positive. That's a really good sign for him.”

The Dodgers ended an overall three-game skid with a 5-2 victory.

Ohtani allowed one run and four hits in three innings. He struck out three and walked one on 46 pitches, 30 for strikes.

“I just felt that the location and command wasn’t what it was the last few outings,” Roberts said. “There was a lot more misfires tonight than there had been.”

Ohtani was pitching for the first time in nine days.

“Maybe a little rust, but he calibrated when he needed to and made pitches when he needed to,” Roberts said. "There were some really good throws in there."

He pitched three scoreless innings against the San Francisco Giants on July 12 as he continues to work his way back from elbow surgery. He did not pitch at all last season, his first for the Dodgers.

Ohtani remains on track to stretch out to four innings in his next outing, however, Roberts wasn't sure when that would be.

“We do have some off days coming up,” the manager said. “They could play into when he’s pitching.”

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani hits a two-run home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Minnesota Twins in Los Angeles, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani listens to the PitchCom during the first inning of a baseball game against the Minnesota Twins in Los Angeles, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani gestures after hitting a two-run home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Minnesota Twins in Los Angeles, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani reacts after a base hit by Minnesota Twins' Ryan Jeffers during the third inning of a baseball game in Los Angeles, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani throws against the Minnesota Twins during the third inning of a baseball game in Los Angeles, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)

Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani hits a two-run home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Minnesota Twins in Los Angeles, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani listens to the PitchCom during the first inning of a baseball game against the Minnesota Twins in Los Angeles, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani gestures after hitting a two-run home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Minnesota Twins in Los Angeles, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)

A third round of “No Kings” protests is coming this spring, with organizers saying they are planning their largest demonstrations yet across the United States to oppose what they describe as authoritarianism under President Donald Trump.

Previous rallies have drawn millions of people, and organizers said they expect even greater numbers on March 28 in the wake of Trump's immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, where violent clashes have led to the death of two people.

“We expect this to be the largest protest in American history,” Ezra Levin, co-executive director of the nonprofit Indivisible, told The Associated Press ahead of Wednesday's announcement. He predicted that as many as 9 million people will turn out.

“No Kings” protests, which are organized by a constellation of groups around the country, have been a focal point for outrage over Trump's attempts to consolidate and expand his power.

“This is in large part a response to a combination of the heinous attacks on our democracy and communities coming from the regime, and a sense that nobody’s coming to save us," Levin said.

Last year, Trump said he felt attendees were “not representative of the people of our country,” and he insisted that “I’m not a king.”

The latest round of protests had been in the works before the crackdown in Minneapolis. However, the killing of two people by federal agents in recent weeks has refocused plans.

Levin said they want to show “support for Minnesota and immigrant communities all over” and oppose “the secret police force that is murdering Americans and infringing on their basic constitutional rights.”

“And what we know is, the only way to defend those rights is to exercise them, and you do that in nonviolent but forceful ways, and that’s what I expect to see in ‘No Kings’ three," Levin said.

Trump has broadly defended his aggressive deportation campaign and blamed local officials for refusing to cooperate. However, he's more recently signaled a shift in response to bipartisan concern over the killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday.

In June, the first “No Kings” rallies were organized in nearly 2,000 locations nationwide, including cities, towns and community spaces. Those protests followed unrest over federal immigration raids and Trump’s deployment of the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles, where tensions escalated with protesters blocking a freeway and setting vehicles on fire.

They were organized also in large part to protest a military parade in the nation's capital that marked the Army’s 250th anniversary and coincided with Trump’s birthday. “No Kings” organizers at the time called the parade a “coronation” that was symbolic of what they characterized as Trump’s growing authoritarian overreach.

In response, some conservative politicians condemned the protests as “Hate America” rallies.

During a second round of protests in October, organizers said demonstrations were held in about 2,700 cities and towns across the country. At the time, Levin pointed to Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown, his unprecedented promises to use federal power to influence midterm elections, restrictions on press freedom and retribution against political opponents, steps he said cumulatively represented a direct threat to constitutionally protected rights.

On social media, both Trump and the official White House account mocked the protests, posting computer-generated images of the president wearing a crown.

The big protest days are headline-grabbing moments, but Levin said groups like his are determined to keep up steady trainings and intermediate-level organizing in hopes of growing sustainable resistance to the Trump administration's actions.

“This isn’t about Democrats versus Republicans. This is about do we have a democracy at all, and what are we going to tell our kids and our grandkids about what we did in this moment?" Levin said. "I think that demands the kind of persistent engagement. ”

Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP

FILE - People protest as part of the "No Kings Day" protest on Presidents Day in Washington, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025, near the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

FILE - People take part in the "No Kings Day" protest on Presidents Day in Washington, Feb. 17, 2025, near the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)