Shohei Ohtani on Friday allowed four homers for the first time in his major league career while pitching six-hit ball into the seventh inning and earning the mound victory in the Los Angeles Angels’ 8-5 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Ohtani pitched through his struggles and did not leave the game until the seventh inning, allowing five runs on six hits with nine strikeouts. He received a standing ovation amid chants of “MVP” from Angels fans in his final mound start at home before the major league trade deadline Aug. 1.
“I’m very happy to hear this, obviously,” Ohtani said through his translator. “But at the same time, I felt like I could have performed better and given us a better shot.”
Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA Today
Ohtani is in the final year of team control before unrestricted free agency, but the Angels have said they are unlikely to trade the 2021 American League Most Valuable Player, particularly if they are in the playoff race at the deadline. Los Angeles had a 1-10 swoon around the All-Star break, but have won five of six since to improve its hopes of contending.
“That did not cross my mind at all,” Ohtani said of the possibility that he had just made his final mound appearance for the Halos at the Big A. “Obviously, I’m a part of the Angels at this moment, and I feel like we’re in a decent spot to make a playoff run, so I just try not to really think about that.”
Ohtani also scored two runs while drawing three walks at the plate for the Angels, who have won four in a row. Los Angeles manager Phil Nevin praised his ace for resilience.
“He ran the bases, what, four or five times today?” Nevin said. “There’s a factor in that. It just seems the more times he’s on base, the fatigue sets in earlier... He was throwing strikes. He went right after hitters. They’ve got some good hitters, and good hitters are going to hit pitches out sometimes.”
Pirates rookie Henry Davis became the first major league player to homer twice off Ohtani. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 draft had three total hits off Ohtani, while Choi Ji-man and Jack Suwinski also homered in Pittsburgh’s power spree from the fourth to the sixth innings.
Elsewhere on Friday, Taiwan’s Yu Chang put the Boston Red Sox in the lead with a two-run double in the second inning off the New York Mets’ Japanese pitcher Kodai Senga at Fenway Park. The Red Sox were trailing the Mets 4-3 when the game was suspended due to rain in the bottom of the fourth.
The Tampa Bay Rays blanked the Baltimore Orioles 3-0, the Los Angeles Dodgers dominated the Texas Rangers 11-5, the Houston Astros and the Atlanta Braves outplayed the Oakland Athletics and Milwaukee Brewers 6-4 respectively, the Cleveland Guardian pipped the Philadelphia Phillies 6-5, the San Diego Padres downed the Detroit Tigers 5-4, the Cincinnati Reds topped the Arizona Diamondbacks 9-6 and the Minneapolis Twins defeated the Chicago White Sox 9-4.
The New York Yankees pipped the Kansas City Royals 5-4, the Chicago Cubs beat the St Louis Cardinals 4-3, the Colorado Rockies bested the Miami Marlins 6-1, the Washington Nationals felled the San Francisco Giants 5-3 and the Seattle Mariners bested the Toronto Blue Jays 3-2.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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