Shohei Ohtani’s bid for historic cycle falls short, but Angels beat Athletics
Shohei Ohtani’s pitching starts typically have a flare of excitement. Any given outing seemingly has the potential for the two-way star to make history. In Thursday’s 8-7 win over the Oakland Athletics, Ohtani hit a speed bump on the mound in the fourth inning, then capped his game at the plate almost hitting for the cycle.
“I actually felt probably the best today, all year at the plate,” Ohtani said in Japanese through an interpreter. “I gave up those five runs but still felt pretty good overall, pitching-wise. So I would say it’s a pretty good day overall.”
Had Ohtani homered in the eighth inning, he would have become the first major league player in the modern era to hit for the cycle in a game in which he pitched.
Ohtani was his usual, brilliant self on the mound, save for an uncharacteristic unraveling in the fourth inning, when the Angels’ 5-0 lead turned into a 5-5 score. It was the first time in 35 innings pitched at Angel Stadium dating to last season that Ohtani gave up a run. It took some of his teammates a little by surprise.
Brandon Drury homered, doubled and drove in three runs, and Shohei Ohtani hit a late two-run homer in the Angels’ 11-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics.
“I had to kind of go up and down the dugout after the last half inning just because it was like the whole place was deflated,” manager Phil Nevin said. “Everybody’s like ‘What happened?’
“It’s like, ‘He’s human,’ ” Nevin continued. “ ‘He’s gonna give up runs. We’re in a dog fight now. Let’s go.’ ”
The last time Ohtani was charged with five or more earned runs in a game was July 22, 2022 in Atlanta. He had shut out the Braves through six innings before losing control in the seventh.
On Thursday, Ohtani cruised the first three innings, retiring nine straight batters with dominance, his strikeout count reaching five. But in the fourth, which started with Ohtani having trouble with his pitch com receiver, he threw two wild pitches, hit two batters, walked one, gave up a ground-rule double and two home runs all before he was able to get an out.
“I mean you don’t see many innings like that [from Ohtani], but because he’s so good, you see what he did after,” catcher Chad Wallach said.
Ohtani allowed only one base runner (another hit batter) in his last two innings. His final line: six innings, five earned runs, three hits, two walks, three hit batters and eight strikeouts.
“Actually, the bullpen right before the game and the first three innings probably felt the best all year,” Ohtani said. “That fourth thing is very regrettable, but felt really good coming back in the fifth and sixth to shut it down. So I wanna use this as a learning experience going forward.”
Offensively, Ohtani was part of the Angels’ continued barrage over the A’s. His day at the plate started with a soft, ground-ball single that shattered his bat in the first inning.
Then there was an RBI double he hit in the third for the game’s first run. He was driven in that inning on Brandon Drury’s three-run home run.
Taylor Ward, coming off a grand slam robbery, helped the Angels beat the Oakland Athletics 5-3 on Tuesday at Angel Stadium.
His hit in the sixth inning almost looked as if it would be a home run. Instead, it was a fairly routine fly out to Conner Capel in center field. But Capel could not catch the ball and Ohtani logged what was ruled a triple.
Ohtani’s final at-bat in the eighth inning resulted in a fly out, Ruiz catching the ball at the warning track.
“It was off the end [of the bat] so I knew it wasn’t gone off the bat,” Ohtani said, “but I wish it would have fell because we had runners on base and we needed some runs at that point. That’s all I was thinking about.”
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