Hype is real as Japanese prodigy Ohtani homers again for Angels
LOS ANGELES: Japanese dynamo Shohei Ohtani homered in his second straight game on Wednesday, delivering a two-run shot in the fifth inning as the Anaheim Angels beat the Cleveland Indians 3-2 in 13 innings.
The Angeles two-way star belted a shot off American League Cy Young winner Corey Kluber to go along with his threerun homer in his first at-bat at home for Anaheim on Tuesday night.
“Shohei got hold of it,” said manager Mike Scioscia of the 23-year-old right hander who is batting .429. “That’s a big hit in the game.
“You can see the bat speed and you can see the power. As he goes on, there is a lot more he has to absorb. He has a tremendous upside and has swung the ball very well the last two nights.”
Ohtani, who is scheduled to pitch for the Angels on Sunday, has six hits in 14 at-bats in three games as the club’s designated hitter.
Ohtani is the first player since Babe Ruth for the Boston Red Sox in 1919 to start on opening day in a non-pitching role, then also start on the mound in his first 10 games.
Ohtani had struggled during spring training for the Angels, prompting some observers to question whether he was ready to make his major league debut.
However, he has assuaged those concerns during his performances since the opening of the season.
“I don’t have anything to say to those [critics],” Ohtani said through an interpreter. “I had bad results, so I guess they have the right to say bad stuff about me. We just got started. I’ll just take it day by day and try to help the team.”
Arizona left-hander Patrick Corbin gave up one hit and struck out a career-high 12 in 7-1/3 innings and the Diamondbacks concluded a three-game sweep of the defending National League West champions Los Angeles Dodgers with a 3-0 victory at Chase Field.
Corbin (2-0) retired the first 14 he faced before Matt Kemp blooped a double down the right-field line with two outs in the fifth inning.
Archie Bradley replaced Corbin after Kemp walked with one out in the eighth inning of the game, the only other runner off Corbin.
Giancarlo Stanton hit his first home run at Yankee Stadium as New York also received two-run homers from Gary Sanchez and Aaron Judge in a 7-2 home win over Tampa Bay.
Stanton rebounded from striking out five times in Tuesday’s home opener for the first time in his career.
On Tuesday, Stanton heard boos after his fourth strike-out and described his performance as “garbage” afterwards despite it occurring in a big 11-4 victory.
Elsewhere, Carlos Martinez fired four-hit ball over 8-1/3 scoreless innings as St Louis rolled to a 6-0 victory in Milwaukee.
Jose Abreu walloped a tie-breaking homer to lead off the eighth inning and lift Chicago to a 4-3 victory in Toronto.
Meawnhile Pablo Sandoval took a Felix Hernandez pitch into the San Francisco Bay for a three-run home run, helping the New York Giants split their interleague series against Seattle with a 10-1 victory.