He floundered as the pitcher but made certain that as a hitter he made amends. Shohei Ohtani pulled himself from the early shortfall with a singularity not seen since Babe Ruth did it way back in 1921.
Shohei Ohtani went 2 for 3 with 2 RBIs and 3 runs scored. He worked 5 innings on the mound, with 4 runs allowed to give his team a win as the Angels defeated Rangers 9-4.
He started by reminding the difficulty in achieving his feat and ended by doing it anyway. Starting from the second innings to the fifth, Ohtani managed to retire all but one of the Rangers’ 13 batters. 8 went to strikeouts, 5 of them consecutively.
Shohei Ohtani even came up with a fifty-two-foot bunt plus a 113.8 miles per hour drive. Both went for hits. Ohtani drove two runs, scored 3 more. Joe Maddon, Angels’ manager was effusive in his praise.
An All-Round Performance From Shohei Ohtani
Shohei Ohtani has the control, the speed, and the power necessary for and top-line offensive player. Ohtani also has in him to be a top pitcher. He possesses both the competitiveness and the discipline to excel in both roles. He only needs to work on his command.
Shohei Ohtani’s command was visibly off a week ago as he started against the Rangers after a 16-day absence. He allotted six walks plus managed a batter though not giving up runs in the exchange. He again fell behind all the initial 5 hitters he came up against.
He gave his own command a 0 in the first match with the Rangers. He pushed it to 5 posts in the rematch. He thinks it will improve with time.
Maddon wants to give Ohtani the liberty to play minus any limitations. And it worked. His tough competitiveness was evident. Hitting on the same day he pitches benefits Ohtani, he feels, and it brought results on Monday.