ANAHEIM – After getting off to a dominant start on the mound in his first five outings of the season, the two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani has been plagued by a big inning in each of his last three starts.
This is becoming a frustrating theme for Ohtani that continued against the Astros on Tuesday, as he allowed three runs in the fifth inning of the game. a 3-1 defeat at Angel Stadium. Ohtani, who allowed three runs on six hits and two walks in seven innings, has now allowed at least three earned runs in three straight outings for the first time in his career.
He was particularly hurt by homers during those big innings, as he allowed five runs in the fourth against the A’s on April 27, highlighted by two home runs. The right-hander also allowed three runs in the fourth in St. Louis on May 3, including a two-run shot. And in his fifth three-pointer Tuesday, he gave up a two-point blast to Martín Maldonado after a four-pitch walk. Ohtani had a 0.64 ERA in her first five starts, but she now has a 2.74 ERA after allowing 12 runs over her last 18 innings.
“It was the long ball that hurt me in this inning in the last three starts,” Ohtani said through interpreter Ippei Mizuhara. “I feel like walking that first batter kind of leads to the biggest innings. This is something I want to pay attention to in the future.
Ohtani, the 2021 AL MVP and runner-up last year, looked sharp early and made history in the second inning with his strikeout of Jeremy Peña. This gave Ohtani 502 career strikeouts, passing Hall of Famer Babe Ruth on the all-time strikeout list, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, for the most Ks thrown by a two-way player. Ohtani also now has the most career strikeouts in AL/NL history with at least 100 home runs at the plate. He struck out seven and leads the American League with 66 strikeouts in 46 innings this year.
“It’s a good thing to get past him, but I felt like I could have struck out more batters today,” Ohtani said. “It’s still the start of the season. I just want to stay healthy.
He also worked with catcher Chris Okey for the first time, when Okey had his contract selected from Triple-A Salt Lake with other support Chad Wallach placed on injured reserve before the game. Okey, playing in his eighth career Major League game, hit a wild pitch on a strikeout in the second and also tagged receiver interference in the fourth. But he threw out Peña on a stolen base attempt to end the fourth.
“I realized how good his stuff is tonight,” Okey said. “He’s a very special pitcher and player. It was definitely a learning experience.
Ohtani, who calls his own game through PitchCom, also worked with a slightly different pitch mix than usual, as he threw a record 32 sinkers and just one splitter among his 103 pitches. Ohtani had only thrown 32 sinkers all season before his release.
“That was exactly the way we planned to attack them today,” manager Phil Nevin said. “Reviewing the game plan, he wanted to use his fastball a little more. I thought it was really effective.
However, that fell apart in the fifth, after Ohtani walked Jake Meyers on four pitches with one out. He then fell behind Maldonado on a 3-2 count and left a sweeper to the heart of the plate. Maldonado, the No. 9 hitter, laid over the left-field fence for a two-run homer to give the Astros the lead.
Ohtani then gave up three straight singles, including an RBI single by Yordan Alvarez, before striking out José Abreu and Kyle Tucker to escape further trouble. He recovered, facing the minimum in the sixth and seventh innings to finish on a high note. But he was still blamed for the loss for the first time this season, as the Angels managed just three hits and one run. Zach Neto‘s first career home run into left third Framber Valdezwho pitched eight solid innings.
“He’s really good, but he’s human,” Nevin said of Ohtani. “He made a bad throw, and it was to a guy who seems to be doing us a lot of damage in Maldonado. The blows that followed (were not hit hard); there was a bullet all over the line. Thanks to them for having completed more races than us.
