There really is no such thing as ‘Amazing Ohtani’. Shohei Ohtani (LA Angels) rewrote the history of the LA Angels club.
On the 12th (hereinafter Korean time), Ohtani played as a starting pitcher and third batter in the 2023 Major League Baseball home match against the Washington Nationals held at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California, USA, and played a big role in pitching and hitting.
Ohtani won his second win of the season by pitching 92 pitches in 7 innings, 안전놀이터1 hit, 6 walks (5 walks, 1 walk), 6 strikeouts, no runs, with a pitch called “sweeper,” which goes like a fastball and then changes laterally. And at the plate, he went 4 at-bats and 1 hit. On this day, Ohtani recorded 34 consecutive on-base hits as a batter, matching his personal record for the most, and changed the history of the club on the mound. And he even enjoyed the joy of rising to first place in the major leagues by dropping his earned run average from 0.75 to 0.47.
Ohtani wasn’t perfect on the mound that day. Because he had a lot of walks with 6. However, the scoreless pitch was clearly powerful. Ohtani started the game by giving up two walks from the inning and causing a crisis situation, but ended the inning without conceding. And in the second inning, he allowed lead batter Lane Thomas to walk, but all subsequent hitters were caught with a hit.
Episode 3 was clean for the first time. Ohtani recorded his first three-way offense by turning Alex Cole on a grounder from third base, Jamer Candelario on a fly ball from right field, and Dominic Smith on a grounder from pitcher. In the 4th inning, a walk by Kyber Lewis and a double by CJ Abrams put them in a critical situation again, but this time, as in previous innings, no runs were allowed.
Ohtani climbed the mound in the 5th inning as well, tying up the Washington batting line and meeting the victory requirements. And in the 7th inning, he showed a scoreless pitch with a double hit, and Ohtani got his second win of the season as the Angels won 2-0.
On this day, Ohtani rewrote the history of the club. Starting from last year on August 28th, against the Toronto Blue Jays, 10 games in a row with two runs or less. The previous record was Nolan Ryan’s 9 consecutive games with 2 runs or less. Ryan held the Angels’ club record by pitching two runs or less in nine consecutive games from 1972 to 1973.
Ryan pitched in 807 games over 27 major league seasons, marked 324 wins with an ERA of 3.19, and was designated as a permanent member of three clubs, including the Angels, Houston Astros, and Texas Rangers, and was inducted into the Major League Hall of Fame in 1999. ‘Legend’ Pitcher. Ohtani, whose performance on the mound has improved markedly since last year, has finally surpassed the ranks of a major league legend.
Ohtani had a happy day, rising to the top of the major league ERA and surpassing Ryan, but he was never satisfied. According to Japan’s ‘Sankei Sports’, Ohtani said, “The result was good, but I couldn’t create a rhythm that led to an attack because there were few triplets.”
He walked a lot, but it was definitely a powerful pitch. On this day, Ohtani’s sweeper bent a whopping 20 inches (approximately 51 cm) and created a large angle. As a result, he was even suspected of a foreign object by the referee after he finished pitching in the fifth inning. Ohtani smiled, saying, “I was suspicious,” but said with strength, “I’m worried about the many slopes. But I’ll do my best to match (to the pitch clock).”