Oakland, CA – Another home race, another promotion win, another place in the history books. Just another night Shuhei Ohtani.
This two-way sensation from Japan withstood yet another injury scare and went six goalsless to continue his 25th home run, reaching another massive feat as the Los Angeles Angels beat the Oakland Athletic 5-1 on Tuesday.
Otani joined Babe Ruth (1918) as the only player in Major League history to have achieved at least 10 home runs and 10 wins in the same season. According to The Angels, two Negro Leagues players have also performed: Bullet Rogan of the 1922 Kansas City Monarchs and Ed Rile of the 1927 Detroit Stars.
Angels interim manager Phil Nevin said, “I feel like every time we go out he does something special. You try not to take what we see every night for granted, but it’s so great to be a part of. Those things don’t go easy on our part.”
He singled out Otani and scored a goal Taylor WardHomer of three ran into the fifth, and then connect it to a tall distance Sam Salman Leading us in seventh place is the roar of a crowd of Red Clan fans seated behind the lair of angels.
This resulted in Ohtani overtaking Ichiro Suzuki for the second most home goals (118) for a Japanese-born player. Hideki Matsui had 175.
“Obviously we are very different from the hitters, but if I pass Ichiro, I am really honored,” Ohtani said through an interpreter.
On the hill, the otani (10-7) was mostly crunchy. He had five hits, allowed four hits and retired seven of his last eight hitters. He has now scored 25 home runs and 100 ground strikes for the second year in a row – a feat no other player has achieved in a single season in MLB history.
“After that day at home, I turned to the referee and the third base coach and said, ‘I don’t know how he’s doing that,'” the third starting man in Team A Female Machine He said. “Just being an elite player in general who can throw over 100mph without bad speed and hit the ball the way he hits it, I can’t even describe it. I wish I could do that too. It’s amazing what he does.”
AL MVP Governor almost came out of third place.
Two days later, he suffered a spike in the top of his left foot after colliding with the Mariners Marco Gonzalez Near the circle on the deck, Ohtani was hit near the same area at 87 mph from Ramon Lauriano.
Having played the final in the first half, Otani bowed at the waist in apparent annoyance and then slowly walked off the field. He returned to the field moments later to check his leg, and remained in the game.
“It hit my foot beautifully, so I initially thought there was a good chance it might be tonight,” Otani said. “I got back there and it wasn’t as bad as I initially thought.”
Nevin said Ohtani’s feet became increasingly painful as the game progressed. X-rays taken afterwards were negative.
“He’s good,” said Nevin. “He’ll play tomorrow as it seems. I hit him right in the metatarsal. This stuff, if you sit down for a while, on a slightly cold night, narrows it down a little.”
ESPN Stats & Information and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
“Student. Incurable problem solver. Amateur baconaholic. Introvert. Infuriatingly humble music fanatic.”