Ohtani pitches six strong innings in victory over Texas.
ARLINGTON, TEXAS >> The evolution of Shohei Ohtani as a pitcher this season was demonstrated clearly in the Angels’ 2-1 victory over the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night.
After Ohtani gave up one run in six innings, striking out six and walking nobody, Joe Maddon talked about how Ohtani “didn’t have his best stuff, but competed really well.”
It was a sharp contrast to the beginning of the season, when Ohtani had games in which gave up too many runs, walked too many or threw too many pitches, but Maddon would defend him by talking about his electric stuff.
On this night, Ohtani didn’t do anything eyepopping besides get outs, one after the other, just like he has all month.
“He’s got a great feel for everything that he does,” Maddon said. “Maybe not his most dynamic performance highly effective because he knows what he’s doing up there.”
Over his last four starts, Ohtani has allowed four runs in 26 innings, with 23 strikeouts and one walk. The streak began just after that nightmare start at Yankee Stadium, where he gave up seven runs and walked four, without even recording three outs.
For the season, Ohtani has a 2.93 ERA in 16 starts.
Ohtani said he had no issue on Wednesday with his thumb, which was hurt when he was hit by a stray foul ball into the Angels dugout last week, delaying his start by three days.
Maddon surmised that the extra time may have made Ohtani a little rusty. He pulled him after six innings and just 86 pitches because he believed Ohtani was showing some fatigue.
“I thought he was fatigued at that point,” Maddon said. “He hadn’t pitched in a while. Just talking to him and reading his face, I thought that was enough.”
Ohtani would not cop to any fatigue, but he did say through his interpreter that “ideally I would have liked to go another inning.”
He regretted that he gave up a run in the sixth inning, which handed the bullpen a one-run lead instead of a two-run lead.
They nonetheless made it stand, with Austin Warren getting a high-leverage opportunity in the seventh. In just third big league game, Warren pitched a scoreless inning, striking out Brock Holt to strand the tying run at third.
Maddon has spoken several times during Warren’s brief time in the big leagues about his demeanor.
“My biggest takeaway is his makeup and how he goes about it,” Maddon said. “He doesn’t seem to be affected. He comes out and throws strikes. He has a nice heartbeat. He’s got a variety of pitches, and he definitely is not afraid.”
Steve Cishek worked a scoreless eighth, with Kurt Suzuki nailing Isaiah Kiner-Falefa stealing for the third out. Raisel Iglesias picked up the save with a scoreless ninth.
The pitching staff had little cushion because the Angels scored just two runs against Rangers lefty Kolby Allard (San Clemente High).
In the third inning, Juan Lagares scored all the way from second on a wild pitch when catcher Jonah Heim couldn’t find the ball.
In the fifth, Jack Mayfield hit a solo homer, his second homer in as many games. It was the sixth homer of the season for Mayfield, coincidentally tying Anthony Rendon in homers on the day the Angels announced that Rendon would be out for the rest of the season because of hip surgery.
Mayfield also singled and doubled. In the meantime, he will remain with the Angels as part of the taxi squad.
Naughton takes the 40man roster spot cleared when Rendon went on the 60-day injured list.