Ohtani hits milestones on mound, at the plate
OAKLAND » Anytime your performance summons the names of Babe Ruth and Ichiro Suzuki on the same night, it’s a pretty good night.
Shohei Ohtani reached a few significant milestones in the Angels’ 5-1 victory over the Oakland A’s on Tuesday night.
Ohtani pitched six innings to pick up his 10th victory of the season, which made him the first player in either of the two traditional major leagues to win 10 games and hit 10 homers in the same season since Ruth did so with the Boston Red Sox in 1918.
It also happened twice in the Negro Leagues after Ruth, by Ed Rile with the 1927 Detroit Stars and Bullet Rogan with the 1922 Kansas City Monarchs.
Ohtani also blasted his 25th homer of the season, which was No. 118 for his career. That passed Suzuki for second on the all-time list among Japanese players. Suzuki, who reached the majors when Ohtani was 6, was one of Ohtani’s
THE SCORE ANGELS 5, A’S 1
Up next: Angels at A’s, today 12:37 p.m., BSW
favorite players when he was growing up in Japan. Hideki Matsui hit 175 homers in the majors, the most among Japanese players.
It’s the third time in his career Ohtani homered and got a win in the same game.
Ohtani also passed 1,000 strikeouts between the majors and Japan. He now has 379 strikeouts in the majors and 624 in Japan.
Ohtani had come up empty in his previous three starts. He also finished 2021 with nine victories, coming up short in his final three starts.
Although Ohtani gave up six runs in his July 22 start at Atlanta, in the two subsequent outings he pitched well enough to win. He gave up two and three runs.
But the Angels scored just one run while Ohtani was pitching in those three games combined.
They did much better against Oakland righthander James Kaprielian, a product of Irvine’s Beckman High and UCLA.
Steven Duggar tripled in his first Angels at-bat in the third, and then David Fletcher drove him in with a bloop single.
In the fifth, Ohtani singled — his first hit in 12 career at-bats against Kaprielian — and then Luis Rengifo was safe on an error. Taylor Ward followed with a three-run homer, putting the Angels ahead, 4-0.
Ohtani padded the lead with a shot over the right field fence in the seventh inning.
Ohtani walked three, equaling his season high. He also gave up four hits. The Angels turned a double play in the first and Ward threw out Seth Brown trying to stretch a single into a double in the second.
In the third, just after Ohtani had walked two, Ramon Laureano drilled a ball up the middle and it hit Ohtani’s leg. Ohtani picked it up and threw to first for the out, then he limped off the mound.
He managed three more innings, retiring the side in order in the sixth, just before hitting his homer.
LOS ANGELES » The Dodgers have been in baseball’s lap of luxury before. It is the point in the season where their claim as the hottest team on the planet threatens to become something even better: the best team on the planet.
The Dodgers extended their winning streak to nine Tuesday with a 10-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins.
They are 16-3 since hosting the All-Star Game. They have swept both series against teams with a .500 record or better during that run, and can do so a third time by beating the Twins on Wednesday.
Perhaps most impressively, the Dodgers are making it harder with each passing day to identify their weakest links. All nine starters got a hit against Minnesota.
The Dodgers’ 15-hit attack included eight doubles — tying a season high — and a home run by Max Muncy.
Muncy entered the month of August with nine home runs; he has three in six games since, raising his batting average from .161 to .178.
Cody Bellinger, swinging on 3-and-0 against starter Joe Ryan (8-5), hit a two-run double to break
LOS ANGELES » The Dodgers put two of their best relievers to work early Tuesday.
Long before the first pitch was thrown against the Minnesota Twins, Brusdar Graterol was hurling triple-digit fastballs from the mound. Blake Treinen was pumping them over at 98 mph.
The two right-handers certainly looked sharp in the eyes of the radar gun, and to their teammates who swung and missed on occasion. Their next chance to show they’re ready is on Friday, when Treinen and Graterol will be assigned to Triple-A Oklahoma City to begin their long-awaited rehabilitation assignments.
“I feel great,” Graterol said. “I feel like I’m back again.”
Not quite.
Graterol, who hasn’t pitched for the Dodgers since July 10 because of a sore shoulder, is expected to return by the end of August. Treinen is expected back around Sept. 1 or 2,
Dodgers starting pitcher Julio Urias held the Twins to one run and five hits over seven innings, striking out eight.
THE SCORE
DODGERS 10, TWINS 3
Up next: Twins at Dodgers, today 7:10p.m., SNLA
the game open in the second inning.
Will Smith went 3 for 5 with two RBIs, and Muncy and Trea Turner each had two hits. Justin Turner went 2 for 4, picking up where he left off after a two-week injury absence.
Turner is expected to serve as the Dodgers’ designated hitter for a second consecutive day Wednesday.
Dodgers starter Julio Urías (12-6) threw 90 pitches — 72 for strikes. He allowed only one run
in seven innings, did not walk a batter, and struck out eight.
Urías lowered his season earned-run average to 2.49.
Only three qualified National League pitchers (Sandy Alcantara, teammate Tony Gonsolin and Corbin Burnes) have a lower ERA this season.
The Dodgers are 11745 dating to Aug. 5 of last year, which matches the best 162-game stretch by any team since the leagues expanded in 1961.
At 76-33, the Dodgers maintained their grip on baseball’s best record.
No other team has won more than 71 games.