Shohei Ohtani clobbered his 39th home run for his 1,000th career hit and also struck out eight in his best start this season -- but what should have been a banner day for the Dodgers instead turned into a 5-3 defeat to the Cardinals.

Shohei Ohtani hit a go-ahead, two-run homer for his 1,000th career hit. He also struck out a season-high eight over four innings in his longest mound outing this season for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

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.