Ohtani fans 12, sets club record vs. Dodgers

ANAHEIM — It was Shohei Ohtani at his greatest on the mound in his first profession begin towards the rival Dodgers on Wednesday night time, putting out 12 and permitting only one run over seven robust innings.

But there was only one drawback: It wasn’t sufficient, with the Angels being shut out for a second straight night time in a 2-0 loss at Angel Stadium. It marked their eighth straight loss to the Dodgers relationship again to 2021, which is tied for his or her longest such shedding streak within the Freeway Series.

Ohtani, nonetheless, turned the primary Angels pitcher with 12 strikeouts towards the Dodgers, surpassing Garrett Richards’ 11 on Sept. 9, 2015. It additionally marked Ohtani’s sixth profession begin with no less than 12 punchouts and his second this season. He’s turned it round with two straight stable begins towards the Rangers and Dodgers and has a 3.00 ERA over his final six outings after a tough patch from late April to mid-May, during which he posted a 6.12 ERA over a span of 4 begins.

“I definitely felt way better this time, it was the most comfortable I’ve felt on the mound all year,” Ohtani mentioned by way of interpreter Ippei Mizuhara. “The key is to continue how I felt today. Of course, it’s hard and there are days in between, but I need to stay focused and do what I did again.”

Ohtani, who has performed at an MVP-caliber stage but once more this season and may very well be named an All-Star for the third time in his profession as quickly as Thursday, was masterful, scattering 5 hits and two walks, nevertheless it was an 0-1 cutter to Freddie Freeman within the fourth that he’d prefer to have again. Freeman related on it for a go-ahead solo homer that proved to be the distinction. It was the twelfth homer Ohtani has surrendered in 15 begins this season.

“Ideally, I would have liked it a little lower to try to get that swing and miss,” Ohtani mentioned. “But if I leave it up like that to a great hitter, that’s what happens.”

Otherwise, Ohtani was electrical and, regardless of his excessive strikeout whole, environment friendly. He made it by way of seven frames for the fifth time this yr and the primary time since May 15.

“He was awesome,” Angels supervisor Phil Nevin mentioned. “I thought he threw a terrific game. Even the pitch that Freddie hit out, Freddie, he kind of leans out. He’s smart and he kind of leaned out over there and got that backdoor cutter and was able to hit it out to left-center field. That’s why he’s a great player. But to go through the top of the order the way that Shohei did, it was impressive, overall.”

Ohtani threw 101 pitches and relied closely on his four-seam fastball, which he threw 50 instances and averaged 96.8 mph. He additionally threw his cutter extra usually than ordinary (29 instances, up from his 14 p.c season common). But his pitch combine was efficient, as he registered 20 swings and misses — eight with the fastball, six together with his cutter, 5 together with his sweeper and one together with his splitter.

“We had a game plan coming in and each batter has their own tendencies, so I look at that, for sure,” Ohtani mentioned. “But I just felt comfortable on the mound and I threw my fastball more.”

The Angels fell to 10-5 in Ohtani’s begins this season, whereas he dropped to 6-3 with a 3.13 ERA and 117 strikeouts in 89 innings. Only Spencer Strider (136) and Kevin Gausman (127) have recorded extra strikeouts than Ohtani, who additionally leads the Majors with 24 homers and is tied for the MLB lead with 58 RBIs in 74 video games.

Ohtani went 0-for-3 with a stroll on the plate within the collection finale, because the Angels registered solely two hits towards seven Dodgers relievers in a bullpen sport. Luis Rengifo picked up each hits with a double within the third and a single within the fifth. But Rengifo was additionally thrown out on the plate making an attempt to tag up on Mickey Moniak’s fly ball to left discipline to finish the third, marking the second straight day the Angels had a runner thrown out on the plate in a pivotal scenario.

“They pitched us well,” Nevin mentioned. “When you have a bullpen game against another team, it’s hard to score with a different pitcher out there each time. It’s just facts. We had some chances tonight and got some matchups we liked, but it just didn’t work out.”