Righty trails only all-time Hall of Famers in Angels history in strikeouts in 20 games
6:35 AM UTC
ANAHEIM — Shohei Ohtani struggled against the Mariners on Monday night, but the right-handed two-way star still found a way to get through six strong innings.
Ohtani gave up on seven hits Two runs — including a single home run against Jesse Wink in Game 1 — but he lost eight in a 6-2 loss at Angel Stadium. Daegu has pitched 117 innings this year, which qualifies him as one of the league leaders. He’s hit 165 batters, tied for fifth in the majors, and his 2.69 ERA ranks 11th in MLB and sixth in the American League.
In addition, Ohtani’s 165 strikeouts Has the third-most strikeouts in Angels history with 20, trailing only Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan in 1977 (211 strikeouts) and Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan in 1973 (182). Ohtani has hit 35 percent of the batters he has faced, the most among eligible starters.
“I think his pitch Great,” said interim manager Phil Nevin. “He threw a lot of fastballs, including the two seamers he’d been working on. He made a lot of really good pitches.”
However, Ohtani didn’t consider the decision, and the Angels made a series of turnovers on the defensive end as the Mariners made a four-pointer in the ninth inning. part. The inning featured wide receiver Max Stassi throwing a miss to midfield and Carlos Santana threw a ball on a walk to make it 2-2 in the third In a losing game between and home plate, Stassi threw home on one to lead to another run.
“this is too scary, ‘ said Nevin. “We just made some bad decisions, some bad throws. We didn’t execute a rundown. Yeah, it wasn’t good.”
Ohtani’s slider wasn’t as good as he used to be, as he mostly relied on his four-seam fastball to get ahead of the batters. He threw his quad 38 times, compared to 36 sliders and 15 his last time against the A’s. He also said he mixed in the double seam for the first time this season.
“The biggest thing for me today The flaw is throwing too many balls,” Otani said through an interpreter, Suwon Ippei. “I was messing around with my [double-seam] catch and in the bullpen and thought it was time to break it.”
Wink’s single-run homer in Game 1 came from Ohtani’s 3-2 slider to put Angels early Enter the hole. However, Halos quickly tied the game when Luis Rengifo hit right-hander Luis Castillo’s single homer in the end of the inning. Rengifo was aided by Mariners outfielders Julio RodrÃguez and Mitch Haniger, who collided while trying to get the ball to the wall. The ball bounced out of Rodriguez’s glove and hit a home run over the fence.
Ohtani almost gave up in the third quarter Another homer when Rodriguez hit a 0-2 splitter on the right field line. It was originally called a home run, and Rodriguez got around the base before the referee called and ruled it was a foul. The Mariners challenged the call but received support. After two pitches, Otani hit Rodriguez on the slider.
But Ohtani was out twice in the inning He ran into trouble as he gave up a single to Winker and walked Haniger before giving up a go-ahead RBI single to JP Crawford on a 3-2 slider.
Angels stop Otani Injared Walsh came in and lost the game on a 0-2 fastball in the fourth inning by Castillo’s RBI single. Ohtani was strong after seven of the last eight hitters he faced retired, including three strikeouts.
Ohtani raised him to the end A batter’s speed as Sam Haggerty came to the plate with a runner in scoring position. Ohtani’s fastball hit 99.2 mph at the bat, then he let Haggerty fly right on a 2-2 slider.
“He was in the fourth inning Counted his pitches in the first inning,” Nevin said. “Wink goes into one inning and those things are going to happen. But his pitching increased a little bit, and by six innings he’s done.”
