Ohtani stays on a tear, setting another MLB record in 14th game with a home run and a steal

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shohei Ohtani is at it again.

The Los Angeles Dodgers superstar hit his 52nd home run and stole his 52nd base on Friday night, breaking the major league record for going deep and stealing in the same game.

It's the 14th time Ohtani has achieved the feat, bettering Rickey Henderson's mark of 13 games set in 1986 with the New York Yankees.

Ohtani's heroics occurred a night after becoming the first player in major league history with 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a season.

“The last couple games he's locked in,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

He reached on an infield single to first base in the seventh and then stole second.

Ohtani's 52nd homer off a 3-2 pitch from Kyle Freeland traveled 423 feet to center field, scoring Max Muncy and put the Dodgers ahead 3-2 with two outs in the fifth inning.

Ohtani keeps showing a flair for the dramatic during his historic first season with the Dodgers.

In Miami on Thursday, Ohtani had the first three-homer game of his career — all coming after the sixth inning — his first six-hit game and a franchise and career-record 10 RBIs. No one in MLB history has done that before.

He finished the night with 51 homers and 51 steals.

He also stole two bases and nearly hit for the cycle, but was thrown out at third trying to stretch his second double into a triple while showing off his rare combination of speed and power.

Ohtani was greeted with a standing ovation as he led off the first inning Friday. Chants of “MVP! MVP!” rang out and fans stayed on their feet with their phones out to record his at-bat. Ohtani went down swinging but the crowd applauded again as he walked back to the dugout.

Replays of Ohtani's historic night played on the video board during batting practice.

“People just like to watch greatness," Roberts said, "and he’s going to go down as one of the greats of all time.”

Rockies manager Bud Black marveled at Ohtani's achievements, although he'd prefer the superstar holds off on burnishing his credentials until the three-game series ends.

“He can start Monday,” Black said.

Ohtani clearly didn't get the message.

He also singled twice in his 11th three-hit performance of the season.

Ohtani's previous bests were 46 homers and 26 stolen bases in 2021, when he won the first of his two American League Most Valuable Player awards while playing for the Los Angeles Angels.

Now he’s the favorite for NL MVP honors.

It seems there are no limits for Ohtani.

He was the fastest player to reach the 40-40 mark with a ninth-inning grand slam against Tampa Bay in his 126th game on Aug. 23 .

Now he has nine games left to see what else he can do in the regular season.

“Knowing him, he’s probably looking at 60-60,” Roberts said. “I would say it’s very unrealistic, but with him anything’s possible.”

The Dodgers clinched a postseason berth for the 12th consecutive season with their 20-4 rout of the Marlins on Thursday. It’s nothing new for them, but it is for Ohtani. He has played 865 games without making a postseason appearance, more than any other active player.

“He will be very prepared and focused,” Roberts. “I think the whole world is looking forward to him in October.”

Ohtani made it clear in signing a $700 million, 10-year deal with the Dodgers last December that competing for a championship is what drives him.

“The No. 1 goal is to get to the postseason and win the World Series,” he said last month.

During his six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels, they never made the playoffs or had a winning record.

The NL West-leading Dodgers are looking to lock up their 11th division title in 12 seasons.

Ohtani’s amazing feats are occurring during a season in which his closest friend betrayed him and he isn’t pitching while he rehabilitates from elbow surgery last offseason.

He skipped the Home Run Derby during All-Star weekend in July to avoid potential further injury, although as designated hitter he slugged a three-run homer in the National League’s loss.

Not pitching has kept Ohtani’s arms and legs fresher and quicker, while allowing him to focus and improve on other parts of his game. He’s honed his craft of running and stealing bases, learning how to get good jumps off opposing pitchers by studying video of their tendencies.

Dodgers fans could be witnessing a once in a generation side of Ohtani’s game. Once he resumes pitching every five days next year, his legs may not allow him to steal as many bases.

The Ohtani effect is visible off the field, too.

Fans created mob scenes in and around Dodger Stadium during his two bobblehead giveaways. The final Ohtani promotion is Saturday when T-shirts featuring his likeness will be given to the first 40,000 fans.

Japanese tourists flock to the stadium for tours, resulting in the team adding more Japanese-speaking guides. The team has signed a slew of Japanese sponsors, too.

“He’s one of one,” Roberts said.

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

Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani gestures toward the Dodger bullpen after hitting a single during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) returns to the dugout after hitting a home run during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies in Los Angeles, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. MaxMuncy also scored. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani works out before a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies in Los Angeles, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani singles during the third inning of a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies in Los Angeles, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani runs on a single during the third inning of a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies in Los Angeles, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani (17) celebrates after hitting a home run during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in Miami. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani, of Japan, hits a home run, scoring Max Muncy and Chris Taylor, during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani (17) waves to fans after he hit a home run scoring Andy Pages, during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani (17) celebrates his 51 home run of the season during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in Miami. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Winter is hitting the Gaza Strip and many of the nearly 2 million Palestinians displaced by the devastating 14-month war with Israel are struggling to protect themselves from the wind, cold and rain.

There is a shortage of blankets and warm clothing, little wood for fires, and the tents and patched-together tarps families are living in have grown increasingly threadbare after months of heavy use, according to aid workers and residents.

Shadia Aiyada, who was displaced from the southern city of Rafah to the coastal area of Muwasi, has only one blanket and a hot water bottle to keep her eight children from shivering inside their fragile tent.

“We get scared every time we learn from the weather forecast that rainy and windy days are coming up because our tents are lifted with the wind. We fear that strong windy weather would knock out our tents one day while we’re inside,” she said.

With nighttime temperatures that can drop into the 40s (the mid-to-high single digits Celsius), Aiyada fears that her kids will get sick without warm clothing.

When they fled their home, her children only had their summer clothes, she said. They have been forced to borrow some from relatives and friends to keep warm.

The United Nations warns of people living in precarious makeshift shelters that might not survive the winter. At least 945,000 people need winterization supplies, which have become prohibitively expensive in Gaza, the U.N. said in an update Tuesday. The U.N. also fears infectious disease, which spiked last winter, will climb again amid rising malnutrition.

The U.N. Agency for Palestinian Refugees, known as UNRWA, has been planning all year for winter in Gaza, but the aid it was able to get into the territory is “not even close to being enough for people,” said Louise Wateridge, an agency spokeswoman.

UNRWA distributed 6,000 tents over the past four weeks in northern Gaza but was unable to get them to other parts of the Strip, including areas where there has been fighting. About 22,000 tents have been stuck in Jordan and 600,000 blankets and 33 truckloads of mattresses have been sitting in Egypt since the summer because the agency doesn’t have Israeli approval or a safe route to bring them into Gaza and because it had to prioritize desperately needed food aid, Wateridge said.

Many of the mattresses and blankets have since been looted or destroyed by the weather and rodents, she said.

The International Rescue Committee is struggling to bring in children’s winter clothing because there “are a lot of approvals to get from relevant authorities,” said Dionne Wong, the organization’s deputy director of programs for the occupied Palestinian territories.

“The ability for Palestinians to prepare for winter is essentially very limited,” Wong said.

The Israeli government agency responsible for coordinating aid shipments into Gaza said in a statement that Israel has worked for months with international organizations to prepare Gaza for the winter, including facilitating the shipment of heaters, warm clothing, tents and blankets into the territory.

More than 45,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry's count doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants, but it has said more than half of the fatalities are women and children. The Israeli military says it has killed more than 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

The war was sparked by Hamas’ October 2023 attack on southern Israel, where the militant group killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostages in Gaza.

Negotiators say Israel and Hamas are inching toward a ceasefire deal, which would include a surge in aid into the territory.

For now, the winter clothing for sale in Gaza's markets is far too expensive for most people to afford, residents and aid workers said.

Reda Abu Zarada, 50, who was displaced from northern Gaza with her family, said the adults sleep with the children in their arms to keep them warm inside their tent.

“Rats walk on us at night because we don’t have doors and tents are torn. The blankets don’t keep us warm. We feel frost coming out from the ground. We wake up freezing in the morning,” she said. “I’m scared of waking up one day to find one of the children frozen to death.”

On Thursday night, she fought through knee pain exacerbated by cold weather to fry zucchini over a fire made of paper and cardboard scraps outside their tent. She hoped the small meal would warm the children before bed.

Omar Shabet, who is displaced from Gaza City and staying with his three children, feared that lighting a fire outside his tent would make his family a target for Israeli warplanes.

“We go inside our tents after sunset and don’t go out because it is very cold and it gets colder by midnight,” he said. “My 7-year-old daughter almost cries at night because of how cold she is.”

Grandchildren of Reda Abu Zarada, displaced from Jabaliya in northern Gaza, play next to their tent at a camp in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

One of Reda Abu Zarada's grandchildren, displaced from Jabaliya in northern Gaza, sits on the dirt wearing torn socks while playing near their tent at a camp in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Grandchildren of Reda Abu Zarada, displaced from Jabaliya in northern Gaza, play with sand next to their tent at a camp in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Grandchildren of Reda Abu Zarada, displaced from Jabaliya in northern Gaza, play next to their tent at a camp in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Grandchildren of Reda Abu Zarada, displaced from Jabaliya in northern Gaza, play next to their tent at a camp in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Reda Abu Zarada wraps herself and her grandchildren in blankets as they prepare to sleep in their tent at a camp in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

The grandchildren of Reda Abu Zarada sit by a fire at a camp by the sea in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Reda Abu Zarada, 50, displaced from Jabaliya in northern Gaza, warms up by a fire with her grandchildren at a camp in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Reda Abu Zarada wraps herself and her grandchildren in blankets as they prepare to sleep in their tent at a camp in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Amani Abu Zarada, fourth from left, feeds one of her children with fried zucchini made over a fire made of paper and cardboard scraps outside their tent in a camp in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Reda Abu Zarada, left, and her daughter, Amani, standing, displaced from Jabaliya in northern Gaza, feed their children and grandchildren with fried zucchini made over a fire made of paper and cardboard scraps outside their tent in a camp in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Reda Abu Zarada, 50, displaced from Jabaliya in nothern Gaza, sits by a fire with her grandchildren at a camp by the sea in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)