Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels continued his hot streak, hitting safely in three straight games. However, after going back and forth between hell and heaven with the bases loaded, he was able to smile with his team’s win.
Ohtani went 1-for-4 with a double, a home run, one RBI, one run scored and one walk in three plate appearances against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, on March 31.
He suffered a major injury on April 24 against the Cincinnati Reds, tearing a ligament in his right elbow, and will no longer be able to pitch for the rest of the season, but he has continued his tremendous momentum as a hitter. Ohtani’s four-game hitting streak came to an end when he went hitless against the New York Mets on April 28, but he’s been on a roll since the start of the three-game series against Philadelphia, including a three-hit performance the day before (April 30). He is on pace to reach 150 hits for the second straight year.
The game didn’t start off well. In his first at-bat with the bases loaded in the top of the first inning, Ohtani faced Philadelphia starter Christopher Sanchez and swung and missed on a five-pitch changeup that left the strike zone and landed low on his body. Then, in the bottom of the inning, with the score tied 2-2, Ohtani was thrown out at first base on a good play by Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper.
It wasn’t until the middle of the game that Ohtani really started to heat up. With runners on first and second in the top of the fifth inning, when the Angels regained a 3-2 lead, Ohtani swung at a 93.6-mph sinker that dug into the body of Sanchez’s three-pitch at-bat and cleared the gap between first and second base. With the hit, Ohtani reached the 150-hit plateau for the second straight year.
The joy of reaching 150 hits was short-lived. The Angels put runners on first and second when Brandon Drury singled up the middle. Ohtani raced past the second base line to third, where Philadelphia center fielder Yohan Rojas’ throw to the plate landed squarely on the third baseman. Ohtani struggled to avoid the tag, but the throw was perfect and the Angels were unable to capitalize on the scoring opportunity.
Ohtani made up for his error in the fifth inning in the eighth. Trailing 5-6 in the top of the eighth, Ohtani drew a walk off Philadelphia reliever Gregory Soto with the bases loaded and no outs. He then advanced to third on a Brandon Drury walk and a Randall Grichuk single, and came home on a Hunter Renfroe single to tie the game.
With the score tied at 8-8 in the top of the ninth, Ohtani stepped to the plate for the final time, this time for a three-pitch strikeout of Craig Kimbrel to end the game 1-for-4. While Ohtani wasn’t directly involved in the game-winning run, the Angels snapped a three-game losing streak with a hard-fought victory.
The Angels jumped out to an early lead in the top of the first inning when Hunter Renfroe led off with a double. The Phillies responded in the bottom of the inning with a pair of runs on an RBI single by Johan Rojas and a run-scoring groundout by Garrett Stubbs to tie the game at 2-2. From there, it was a back-and-forth affair.토스카지노
The Angels regained the lead. The Angels regained control in the top of the fifth when Andrew Velasquez led off with a squeeze bunt. Ohtani and Drury followed with back-to-back RBI singles to extend the lead to 5-2. But the celebration was short-lived. Philadelphia rallied for a run in the bottom of the fifth, and Trey Turner hit a three-run shot in the top of the sixth to cut the deficit to 5-6.
The Angels regained the lead with two runs in the top of the eighth, but it was a back-and-forth affair as the Phillies got two back in the bottom of the inning. But the Angels would have the last laugh. The Angels scored three runs in the top of the ninth inning, including a game-winning home run by Attack Drury.