Tokyo, 28 April, /AJMEDIA/
Two-way star Shohei Ohtani overcame a rocky fourth inning on the mound to earn his fourth win of the season as the Los Angeles Angels pulled off an 8-7 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Thursday.
Ohtani (4-0) allowed five runs on three hits, two of them homers, in six innings while striking out eight, walking two and hitting three batters in a 93-pitch rollercoaster outing. At the plate, he finished a home run shy of hitting for the cycle, going 3-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored.
Needing a homer for the cycle in the eighth, the 2021 American League MVP sent a deep fly ball to center field, only to be caught at the warning track by Esteury Ruiz in the series finale at Angel Stadium.
Ohtani could have become the first player in major league history to hit for the cycle as a starting pitcher in the same game. He has hit for the cycle once — on June 13, 2019, against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Ohtani broke a scoreless tie with an RBI double in the Angels’ five-run third but blew the lead in the next inning on the mound, running into control issues and giving up three-run and two-run homers to Brent Rooker and Shea Langeliers, respectively.
The right-hander had retired the first nine batters he faced, striking out five of them.
“I got defensive a little bit,” Ohtani said of his fourth-inning trouble on the mound. “But I managed to regroup. It’s a good experience. Overall, I think I did well in both pitching and hitting, even though I gave up five runs.”
Brandon Drury hit a three-run homer in the third inning for the Angels, who took the lead for good at 6-5 in the fifth on a bases-loaded walk to Luis Rengifo.
Ohtani was relieved with an 8-5 lead. The Angels dropped the opener of this four-game series but won the next three.
At Wrigley Field, Chicago Cubs right fielder Seiya Suzuki had a double in four at-bats in a 5-2 win over the San Diego Padres.
