Shohei Ohtani on Thursday struck out 11 over seven shutout innings, had two hits and drove in a run in the Los Angeles Angels’ 8-0 win over the Boston Red Sox.
Making his pitching debut in Babe Ruth’s original ballpark, the sport’s biggest two-way star since Ruth induced 29 swings and misses from Boston batters — a career high for Ohtani (3-2) and the most for any pitcher this year.
He threw 81 of his 99 pitches for strikes, also a career high.
Photo: Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY
“That’s one of my favorite ballparks,” Ohtani said. “I was looking forward to pitching here, and I felt like it left a really good impression on me.”
Jared Walsh had four RBIs, curling a two-run homer around the left-field foul pole in the seventh inning to break a scoreless tie.
The Angels turned a two-run game into a blowout in the eighth, when Ohtani’s line drive hit the Green Monster so hard that it knocked his uniform number out of the starting pitcher’s slot on the manual scoreboard.
Photo: Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY
“He’s the best player in the league,” Red Sox pitcher Rich Hill said of Ohtani. “I think that’s one thing everybody can pretty much unanimously agree upon. It’s pretty special to see somebody like that come along.”
“I think everybody should be really appreciating what we’re seeing, because it’s something we haven’t seen in 100 years, and we may never see it again for another 100 years,” Hill said.
Anthony Rendon followed with an RBI single to chase Tanner Houck (2-2) and Walsh added a two-run dribbler through the shifted infield to make it 7-0.
Houck gave up seven runs on five hits and a walk, striking out four in 2-1/3 innings.
Brandon Marsh added a solo homer in the ninth.
Ohtani, who had pushed back his start from Tuesday because of groin tightness, allowed six hits and no walks. He also threw a wild pitch that allowed Rafael Devers to reach base on a strikeout in the first.
Ohtani gave up a leadoff double to Jackie Bradley Jr in the fifth. In the sixth, J.D. Martinez doubled with one out, but was stranded when Andrew Velazquez made a diving catch of Franchy Cordero’s blooper to end the inning.
Additional reporting by AFP
In other games, it was:
‧ Astros 3, Tigers 2
‧ Brewers 10, Reds 5
‧ Giants 1, Cardinals 7
‧ Guardians 6, Blue Jays 5
‧ Mariners 3, Rays 4
‧ Phillies 7, Mets 8
‧ Orioles 5, Twins 3
‧ Padres 2, Marlins 1
‧ Rockies 9, Nationals 7
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