MIAMI – Baseball is a game of statistics that can be broken by just one player. Yet Shohei Ohtani is making history with every start, especially when he takes the mound.
Appropriately, Ohtani himself stole the show in Miami on Wednesday and his fifth win in several pitches for the first time in his career with a 5-2 win over the Marlins at Londepo Park. He is the first two-way Hallows pitcher to win five starts in a row from Hector Santiago in 2016.
“There can’t be too many [to set] records on the left, right?” Acting manager Ray Montgomery told the postgame. “I mean, he has the most, if not all of them so far. He competes in everything. And he is tireless. He cannot quench his thirst for what he does. It’s really fun to watch. ”
Ohtani, who is currently in a tough race to start the All-Star Game on July 19, gave up an unbeaten run in seven innings while racking up 10 strikeouts – retiring 15 in a row at one point – as well as driving home runs with the first innings run 21 2 / His scoreless innings ended in 3 innings, but Ohtani did not allow a run earned in 28 2/3 frames.
“It’s special, it’s historical, it’s classic,” said catcher Max Stacey. “He is a frontline man. He has established himself as one of the best hands in baseball – everyone else knows that – and that day you start to fear him. He’s a superstar pitcher and he’s a superstar hitter. “
Ohtani went 1-4-4 on Wednesday with two RBIs, one walk and one run. With the base loaded in the fifth, Ohtani ended the streak 0-7-7 with a two-run single thread on the left and gave the Angels a 3-1 lead and provided himself with an insurance run.
To go beyond that, the RBI finally ended Los Angeles ‘four-game losing streak, ironically it was a start that ended the Angels’ 14-game losing streak in early June. That start (June 9) was also Ohtani’s first win in the current five-win series and the last time he hit during the pitching start.
Ohtani also stole a second base as part of a double steal with seventh-ranked Jonathan Villar, becoming the fourth angel with 15 home runs and 10 stolen bases before the All-Star break.
Here are three notable figures from Ohtani’s trip:
ता Ohtani is the first player since the RBI became official in 1920 to record 10 strikeouts in a single game, two RBIs as a batter and a base of steals.
ह Ohtani’s 111 strikeouts in 81 innings made him the first Angels pitcher to record 110K in less than 100 innings in the first half. In the first half after Garrett Richards in 2014, he scored 110k.
ता Ohtani is the eighth Major Leagues as the runs scored were official (1913) who scored 40-plus strikeouts and zero runs in four-start span.
One of the big reasons why Ohtani is so successful, and why it is so hard to beat him as deep as he plays in the game, is his ability to adjust his baseball IQ and mid-game – adjusting his mechanics, his body or his game plan. .
“It’s another grand outing,” Stacey said. “It simply came to our notice then. He navigated seven innings; He threw the slider, he threw the splits, he threw the fastball, he threw some curveball [and] called it a day. ”
Ohtani specializes in bumps this season. This is nothing new. Entering Wednesday’s matchup, his 33% swing-and-miss rate was fourth-best in the American League (at least 70 innings pitched). Meanwhile, its three pitches (its splitter, curveball and slider) have a whip rate of over 43%. It was Ohtani’s splitter and slider that recorded the most whips (six whips and 11 whips, respectively) against the Marlins.
And the longer Ohtani is in the game, the better. He recorded just one strikeout for the first time through the Marlins lineup, five for the second and four for the third. That ability to get stronger while making deep progress in the game goes back to his in-game adjustment and game knowledge.
“The line of communication we have throughout the game is [amazing],” Stacy said. “He tells me what he likes and what he thinks and then I’ll give him some readings on some hitters and then we’ll be kind. I want to talk about that. He didn’t do this outing, but in the last outing he threw a curveball at 71 miles per hour and then the next pitch [was] 81. So he doesn’t just have all the pitches, he can add and subtract speed.
“Sometimes I have to take a step back and say ‘Oops.’ It’s special. It’s unique. And it won’t be done again. That level won’t be done again.”
