Shohei Ohtani steals 3 bases to reach 46

PHOENIX — It feels inevitable, doesn’t it?

When Shohei Ohtani became the fastest player to join the 40-40 club on Aug. 23, the natural question was whether the Dodgers superstar could reach 50-50 before the regular-season calendar ran out on him.

Well, it’s been 10 days and he has 44 homers and 46 stolen bases, after swiping three, including two back to back, against the D-backs in Monday’s 11-6 victory at Chase Field.

Ohtani wrapped up a 12-homer, 15-stolen base August by becoming the inaugural member of MLB’s 43-43 club on Friday, then he hit his 44th homer on Saturday. He opened September with a quiet 0-for-4, but got right back to work on Monday with a leadoff single, then walking and stealing his 44th base in the fourth.

Batting in the seventh inning with the Dodgers holding a 3-1 lead, Ohtani reached with a one-out single to right field. With a 1-0 count on Mookie Betts at the plate, Ohtani stole second base, easily beating the throw from D-backs catcher Adrian Del Castillo.

On the next pitch, he took third without a throw when lefty Jordan Montgomery’s curveball hit the dirt.

The D-backs intentionally walked Betts, and Ohtani scored on Freddie Freeman’s sacrifice fly to left, igniting a three-run inning for the Dodgers as they looked to nail down a crucial season series win and the tiebreaker advantage over their NL West rivals.