Ohtani homers, gets win to equal Ruth milestone
Shohei Ohtani tacks on an insurance run for the Angels with a solo homer in the seventh inning. (0:38)
OAKLAND, Calif. — Another home run, another pitching win, another spot in the history books. Just another night for Shohei Ohtani.
The two-way sensation from Japan withstood another injury scare and pitched six scoreless innings to go with his team-leading 25th home run, reaching yet another monumental milestone as the Los Angeles Angels beat the Oakland Athletics 5-1 on Tuesday.
Ohtani joined Babe Ruth (1918) as the only players in major league history to have at least 10 home runs and 10 wins in the same season. According to the Angels, two players from the Negro Leagues also did it: Bullet Rogan of the 1922 Kansas City Monarchs and Ed Rile of the 1927 Detroit Stars.
“I feel like every time we’re out there he does something special,” Angels interim manager Phil Nevin said. “You try not to take for granted what we’re seeing every night but it’s pretty awesome to be a part of. These things don’t go by us lightly.”
Ohtani singled and scored on Taylor Ward‘s three-run homer in the fifth, then connected for a towering drive off Sam Selman leading off the seventh as a throng of red-clan fans sitting behind the Angels dugout roared.
That moved Ohtani past Ichiro Suzuki for the second-most home runs (118) by a Japanese-born player. Hideki Matsui had 175.
Shohei Ohtani has 157 pitching strikeouts this season, passing himself for the most in a season by a player to also hit 25 home runs. Next on the list?
“Obviously we’re very different types of hitters, but if I get to pass Ichiro I’m really honored,” Ohtani said through an interpreter.
On the mound, Ohtani (10-7) was mostly crisp. He had five strikeouts, allowed four hits and retired seven of his final eight batters. He has now recorded 25 home runs and 100 pitching strikeouts for the second straight year — a feat no other player has accomplished in a season in MLB history.
“After that home run today, I turned to the umpire and third base coach and was just like, ‘I don’t know how he does it,'” A’s third baseman Vimael Machin said. “Just being an elite player overall who can throw over 100 mph with nasty off speed and hit the ball the way he hits it, I can’t even describe that. I wish I could do that, too. It’s amazing what he does.”
The reigning AL MVP almost didn’t make it out of the third.
Two days after getting spiked on the top of his left foot following a collision with Mariners pitcher Marco Gonzales near the on-deck circle, Ohtani was hit near the same area by an 87 mph line drive from Ramon Laureano.
After making the play for the final out of the inning, Ohtani bent at the waist in obvious discomfort and then limped slowly off the field. He returned to the field a few moments later to test his leg, and stayed in the game.
“It hit my foot pretty square so initially I thought there was a good chance that might be it tonight,” Ohtani said. “Got back in there and it wasn’t as bad as I initially thought.”
Nevin said Ohtani’s foot got increasingly sore as the game progressed. X-rays taken afterward were negative.
“He’s good. He’ll play tomorrow it looks like,” Nevin said. “It hit him right on the instep. Those things, if you sit for a while, a little bit of a chilly night, it tightened up on him a little bit.”
ESPN Stats & Information and The Associated Press contributed to this report.