LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shohei Ohtani passed Ichiro Suzuki for the longest on-base streak by a Japanese-born player on Friday night.
The Los Angeles Dodgers star singled in the fifth inning against Kumar Rocker of the Texas Rangers, extending his streak to 44 games. It was his 13th game reaching base in as many tries this season. His streak began on Aug. 24, and lasted the final 31 games of last season.
“He’s taking walks, he’s getting hits, and he really hasn’t got going yet,” manager Dave Roberts said.
Ohtani struck out once and was intentionally walked in the eighth with runners on first and second.
“Players like to hit, they like to swing the bat, but he's smart enough to know that if they're not going to pitch to him, they're going to pitch around him, then it's a better plan to take the walk,” Roberts said.
Ohtani is tied with Len Koenecke (1934) and Zack Wheat (1919-1920) for the fifth-longest on-base streak in Dodger franchise history. He has reached base safely in each of his seven bobblehead nights as a Dodger.
“I thought he was going to hit a home run tonight,” Roberts said, "and I think he wanted a home run tonight on his bobblehead night, but it just wasn’t to be.”
Suzuki reached base in 43 consecutive games in 2009 with the Seattle Mariners. Ohtani has said he admired Suzuki while growing up.
Ohtani had already passed the Hall of Famer in another category. In 2024, Ohtani's 59 stolen bases broke Suzuki's record for steals by a Japanese-born player in a season. Suzuki had 56 in 2001.
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Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani raises his Hans after hitting a foul ball during the first inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers, Friday, April 10, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani heads to first for a single during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers, Friday, April 10, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
LONDON (AP) — The former leader of Northern Ireland’s largest unionist party repeatedly sexually abused two girls in crimes dating back four decades, a prosecutor told jurors Wednesday in opening statements at his rape trial.
Jeffrey Donaldson, 63, former leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, or DUP, pleaded not guilty to one count of rape, four counts of gross indecency and 13 indecent assault charges involving two alleged victims between 1985 and 2008.
Prosecutor Rosemary Walsh told jurors in Newry Crown Court that the alleged victims complained to police more than two years ago about “difficult and traumatic incidents they say happened when they were children.”
Donaldson resigned as leader of the DUP and quit as a lawmaker in the U.K. Parliament, after he was arrested in March 2024.
Donaldson’s resignation shocked the DUP shortly after the party ended its boycott of Northern Ireland’s semiautonomous government and returned to a power-sharing agreement, after he won concessions on Britain’s post-Brexit trading arrangements with the European Union.
As leader of the DUP between 2021 and 2023, he was the most powerful figure in Northern Ireland’s unionist movement, which seeks to maintain the region’s historic ties to the United Kingdom.
The two alleged victims told police that Donaldson groped them when they were around primary school age, and the older of the two, referred to in court as Complainant B, said that the abuse continued for several years, Walsh said.
Years later, Complainant B said that a meeting was arranged through a church and Donaldson apologized “for what had happened in the past.”
When Donaldson was interviewed by police, he said that it was “unbelievable” that he would have touched her sexually.
His wife, Eleanor Donaldson, has denied charges of aiding and abetting her husband’s alleged offenses, but she's not in court because Judge Paul Ramsey ruled her unfit to stand trial for mental health reasons.
Jurors will decide her case on facts, but she can't be convicted of a crime or punished. The trial is expected to last up to a month.
Jeffrey Donaldson arrives at Newry Crown Court, England, where he and his wife Eleanor Donaldson are accused of historical sexual offences, on Wednesday May 27, 2026. (Brian Lawless/PA via AP)
