Shohei Ohtani has provided Angels fans with plenty of highlights this season. The two-way phenom almost topped them all on Thursday.
The reigning American League Most Valuable Player (MVP) pitched no-hit ball into the eighth inning and extended his hitting streak to 14 games as Los Angeles pushed their winning streak to four with a 4-2 victory over the Oakland Athletics.
“Every time he takes the mound, you can anticipate something special happening,” Angels interim manager Phil Nevin said. “He had everything working. When he got through the seventh, I thought it was going to happen. Unfortunately, we’ll wait until next time.”
Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA Today
Ohtani said through translator Ippei Mizuhara that he was surprised he got through eight innings. The right-hander was not happy with his fastball and went with more breaking balls than normal.
“To be honest, the velocity on my fastball wasn’t as fast as normal, but my slider was doing its thing and was working. I’m kind of surprised with my stuff today,” he said.
Ohtani allowed two hits and struck out 10 in eight scoreless innings to match his longest outing of the season.
In his final home start of the year, Ohtani (15-8) issued a leadoff walk to Tony Kemp before retiring the next 22 batters in order. Conner Capel broke up the no-hit bid with a sharp grounder that deflected off sliding shortstop Livan Soto’s glove and into left-center field with two outs in the eighth.
Even if Soto had been able to field it, he would have had trouble throwing out Capel.
Dermis Garcia followed with a clean single to left before Ohtani retired Shea Langeliers on a grounder to third to end the inning.
“It was going to take a special at-bat, and Conner stayed on a ball away and put a good swing on it,” Oakland manager Mark Kotsay said. “There’s always that exhale, and then Garcia gets ahead and we get some momentum.”
Ohtani ran his hitting streak to 14 games — the longest current streak in the majors — by going two of four with an RBI. The Japanese superstar has 26 hits this season in games he also pitched.
Luis Rengifo, Taylor Ward and Max Stassi had solo home runs for the Angels, who have won five of six.
It was Oakland’s 100th defeat of the season, marking the first time since 1979 they have reached triple digits in the loss column.
Seth Brown had an RBI grounder and Jonah Bride scored on a wild pitch in the ninth.
After winning the American League MVP award last season, Ohtani is a leading contender again this year — probably the top challenger to New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who hit his 61st home run on Wednesday to match the league record set by Roger Maris in 1961.
“I feel like you guys are more of an expert on the voting. I’ll leave it up to you guys,” Ohtani said of the MVP race. “I enjoy watching Judge and saw him hit his 61st.”
Ohtani is at 161 innings pitched, one inning shy of assuring he would qualify among the league leaders when the season ends.
On the mound, Ohtani’s 15 victories are tied for third in the American League, his 213 strikeouts are third and his 2.35 ERA is fourth. At the plate, he is fourth in the league with 34 home runs and sixth with 94 RBIs.
“I know I got MVP last year, but I’m having a better season this year, which is just leading to a lot more confidence,” he said.
Elsewhere, the Dodgers downed the Padres 5-2, the Giants defeated the Rockies 6-4, the Red Sox beat the Orioles 5-3, the Guardians edged the Rays 2-1, the Marlins sank the Brewers 4-2, the Cubs blanked the Phillies 2-0, the White Sox topped the Twins 4-3, the Tigers routed the Royals 10-3 and the Mariners mastered the Rangers 10-9 in 11 innings.
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