Ohtani pitches L.A. to win in second big league debut
Two-way Angel gets job done in first mound start
OAKLAND, Calif. — Shohei Ohtani could exhale, at last having made it through a whirlwind week and not one but two separate debuts in the big leagues.
He got his first career hit, then three days later earned a win on the mound. Souvenir balls for each occasion.
Impressing manager Mike Scioscia with both his poise and repertoire, the two-way star from Japan won his major league pitching debut Sunday. He threw three-hit ball over six innings and led the Los Angeles Angels past the Oakland Athletics 7-4.
“Personally I feel like I got off to a good start, and obviously the team went 3-1 on the first road trip, so I’m very happy with the results,” Ohtani said through a translator.
After being the designated hitter in the opener, he expected to be far more nervous to pitch. It didn’t show.
Reaching the upper 90s in mph with his fastball and keeping the A’s guessing with a nifty splitter, Ohtani struck out six and retired 14 of his final 15 batters.
He didn’t hit while pitching, as Albert Pujols played DH and went 0-for-5.
Ohtani (1-0) pounded his glove following a 1-2-3 shutdown fifth. He walked one, and the only damage against him came on Matt Chapman’s threerun homer in the second.
The 23-year-old righty briefly removed his cap and looked to the sky after the drive, then went back to work and blanked the A’s the rest of the way.
“After that three-run shot, Scioscia came up to me and said I’m doing fine,” Ohtani said.
Ohtani began the season-opening series by hitting a single on the first pitch he saw as a big leaguer, part of a 1-for-5 day at the plate. He capped the set by posting his first win.
Not too shabby, considering he struggled in spring training with his arm and bat. He went 0-1 with a 27.00 ERA in a pair of Cactus League outings and wound up pitching against minor leaguers on back fields, and also had trouble making contact with his swing.
“He showed really good command today and was able to move the ball in and out, up and down, and we had a hard time getting consistent contact off of him,” Chapman said.
Ohtani received ample support from the Los Angeles lineup.
Mike Trout hit a tying double in the fifth, and Justin Upton followed with a go-ahead sacrifice fly. The Angels added insurance in the seventh, getting Andrelton Simmons’ two-run single and an RBI single from Kole Calhoun.
Ohtani began the game with four straight outs — fanning three — before allowing consecutive singles to Matt Joyce and Stephen Piscotty that set up Chapman’s first home run of 2018.
“He used everything,” Scioscia said. “Outside of maybe one stretch of three hitters in the second inning, that’s about as well as you could pitch. … Shohei has shown great poise in everything he’s done — the way he’s practiced, the adjustments he’s made at the plate when he’s swinging the bat. I think that’s going to be one of his strengths moving on.”