Shohei Ohtani blasts 456-foot homer, reaches base 5 times and earns win as Angels beat Orioles, 9-5
The Orioles were in a much different place the only other time they faced Shohei Ohtani.
It was Aug. 25, 2021, and the Orioles, in the midst of a 110-loss season, had lost 19 straight games — the most by an MLB team since 2005. They were facing Ohtani, the two-way wonder in the midst of his American League Most Valuable Player campaign, and it seemed inevitable that their streak would reach 20.
Baltimore is now a near-180 from that team. Entering the week with the second-best record in the major leagues, the organization is on the other side of the rebuild that caused those dark days in 2021 and before.
But, ironically, these Orioles couldn’t do what those Orioles somehow did — complete a comeback against the Angels’ bullpen after Ohtani exited the game. Ohtani the pitcher tossed seven innings for the win, while Ohtani the hitter was a double away from his second cycle and blasted a three-run home run off Grayson Rodriguez to hand the Orioles a 9-5 loss.
“Much better spot mentally right now than the last time we faced him, for sure,” manager Brandon Hyde said before the game. “Those were some tough days. We’re a lot better club than we were a couple years ago.”
Rodriguez struggled on the mound for the shortest and worst start in his young major league career to take his first loss. The top pitching prospect in baseball allowed eight runs in 3 1/3 innings to push his ERA to 6.57.
“That definitely wasn’t the start I was looking to give my team,” Rodriguez said. “Definitely let them down.”
All five of the Orioles’ runs came via three homers, but the team managed just three additional hits and couldn’t score in the final four innings of what was a back-and-forth game through the first half.
The series-opening loss is just Baltimore’s second out of 14 this season. The Orioles (26-15) have now lost two straight after winning four in a row last week. They were 19-9 through April for one of the best starts in franchise history, but they’re 7-6 in May, a month that offers much tougher opponents than the previous one did.
Ohtani walked in the first, singled in the third, launched a majestic 456-foot homer in the fourth and tripled in the fifth, becoming the first pitcher in MLB history to achieve those feats in a game. He had two chances to become the first player in MLB history to hit for the cycle in a game he started on the mound, but he grounded out and singled in his final two trips to the plate.
“Well, he’s one of the best players on the planet,” Hyde said after the game. “For me, I thought we scored five runs off him, hit a few homers. I thought our at-bats were as good as you could be. We didn’t get a ton of hits, but we squared up three balls and put ‘em over the fence. We’ve got to pitch to him better than we did tonight.”
The Japanese superstar’s pitching performance Monday was similar to his one at Camden Yards in 2021 when he allowed four runs and three homers in five innings. On Monday, Ohtani gave up five runs and three homers across seven innings, allowing long balls to Adam Frazier, Anthony Santander and Cedric Mullins. Santander and Mullins both homered off Ohtani in 2021.
“It might seem like Little League for him,” Frazier said when asked if Ohtani’s two-way dominance was like something he’d seen in Little League. “He’s a once-in-a-generation player — once-in-a-lifetime, really. … He’s a special guy. I’m glad I get to compete against him. It’s fun. He brings out the best in everyone. You’re gonna see something special, usually, when he’s hitting, too. It’s fun to compete against a guy like that.”
The pitching matchup between Ohtani and Rodriguez was much-anticipated, but the hype for what the night could be for the young Oriole fizzled quickly as the Angels (22-20) tagged him for nine hits. Rodriguez also walked three and struck out just three of the 22 batters he faced.
The Orioles are 6-2 in games Rodriguez (2-1) has started this season, but his ERA is one of the worst among American League starters and his 1.73 WHIP is the worst among Baltimore starters. He pitched well against the Tampa Bay Rays last week, but that outing was sandwiched between his two worst this season, as he’s surrendered 16 runs in his past 12 2/3 innings.
“I think there are a lot of learning experiences, obviously some good, some bad,” Rodriguez said. “You learn the best from your mistakes, so it’s unfortunate that starts like this happen, but ultimately I’m gonna learn the most from this one.”
Angels shortstop Zach Neto opened the game’s scoring with a sacrifice fly in the second inning. Frazier’s two-run blast to right field — his fourth of the year coming off a campaign in which he hit just three in 156 games for the Seattle Mariners — put the Orioles up 2-1.
Gio Urshela then hit a two-run double to give the Angels a brief one-run lead, but Santander’s long ball to center field put Baltimore up one. Rodriguez then unraveled in the fourth, allowing five of the first six runners to reach base to end his night. He surrendered a leadoff home run to Chad Wallach and then the 114.6 mph moonshot to Ohtani that scored Taylor Ward and Mike Trout — oh, yeah, the three-time MVP center fielder went 2-for-5 with a walk hitting ahead of Ohtani.
The eighth and final run charged to Rodriguez came on a Matt Thaiss double off reliever Logan Gillaspie after Rodriguez was pulled.
“The fourth inning just steamrolled on him a little bit on him,” Hyde said about Rodriguez. “For me, when he threw his fastball it was middle part of the plate, and he just had a tough time locating tonight.”
The Angels pushed one more across in the fifth on a Hunter Renfroe double off Gillaspie, and Mullins’ solo shot in the bottom half was the last run Baltimore would score. Ohtani’s final two innings were scoreless for his fifth win of the season, while relievers Chris Devenski and Matt Moore shut the door.
After Gillaspie gave up four hits and one run in his 1 2/3 innings, Austin Voth, Bryan Baker, Danny Coulombe and Mike Baumann all pitched scoreless frames to maintain a bullpen ERA that entered Monday as the second-best in the majors at 3.05.
Around the horn
- Santander started at first base for the first time in his major league career, playing an error-free nine innings at the position he played just nine games at in the minors in 2016. He’s the fifth Oriole to play first base this season, including starter Ryan Mountcastle, backup Ryan O’Hearn, catcher James McCann and infielder Ramón Urías. Santander joked before the game that the next position he wants to try out is catcher.
- Outfield prospect Kyle Stowers was optioned to Triple-A on Monday, and the Orioles recalled Gillaspie to return the pitching staff to 13 members. Stowers, the club’s No. 8 prospect, according to Baseball America, was hitting .067 amid inconsistent playing time and was 2-for-26 since he was recalled in late April. Hyde said he wanted Stowers to “get his confidence back” in Triple-A.
Angels at Orioles
Tuesday, 6:35 p.m.
TV: MASN2
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
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