Wednesday against the Cardinals, Ohtani pitched four innings, struck out eight, and allowed a run on two third-inning hits that strung together wouldn’t have left the infield: A popup by Jordan Walker that second baseman Miguel Rojas lost in the sun, and a gutsy two-out squeeze bunt by Brendan Donovan that scored Walker from third.

Shohei Ohtani pitched four dominant innings in what qualified as his best start this season, during which he struck out eight batters. He also clobbered his 39th home run, registering his 1,000th career hit in the process.

The eight strikeouts on Wednesday gave Ohtani 25 strikeouts against five walks in his 19 innings pitched so far this season, with a 2.37 ERA and 32.5-percent strikeout rate. He also leads the National League with wRC+ (166), slugging percentage (.606), and runs scored (106), and is second with 39 home runs.