Angels’ phenom Ohtani flirts with perfect game over A’s.
Japanese two-way star retires first 19 A’s batters in order
ANAHEIM >> The A’s found out Ohtani-Mania is real. It’s legit. It might even be bigger than anyone could have expected.
While the magic is usually reserved for the theme park just down the road in Anaheim, it was a shaping up to be a magical afternoon at Angel Stadium as Japanese two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani took a perfect game into the seventh inning against the A’s.
He retired the first 19 batters in order, but Marcus Semien broke up Ohtani’s bid for perfection with a oneout single. The A’s were dominated in a 6-1 loss Sunday in front of a sell-out crowd of 44,742 — the largest attendance for a regular-season day game at Angel Stadium since it was renovated in 1998.
After homering against Daniel Gossett as the designated hitter Friday night, it was the second time Ohtani has stifled the A’s on the mound in the span of a week. Ohtani also impressed last week at the Coliseum when he allowed three runs over six innings as he picked up the first win in the big leagues.
But the man they refer to as “Japanese Babe Ruth” took things to another level Sunday afternoon.
“He looked even better today,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said of Ohtani. “The difference in speeds between his split and his fastball is significant. When he locates his split down in the zone, it’s tough to pick up.”
Featuring a fastball that consistently reached triple digits and a nasty splitter in the 92-93 mph range, Ohtani got through the first six innings with ease as he struck out 11 of the first 18 batters faced. Jonathan Lucroy’s atbat in which he took Ohtani to a full count before flying out to right in the sixth was the closest to anything resembling a hint of danger.
After walking Jed Lowrie following the hit by Semien, Ohtani retired Khris Davis and struck out Matt Olson before exiting to a standing ovation. He allowed one hit and one walk over the seven innings, while racking up 12 strikeouts.
Ohtani, 23, is 2-0 with a
2.08 ERA through two starts, while batting .389 with three home runs and seven RBIs over four games. He’s the first player to earn two wins as a pitcher and hit three home runs in his team’s first 10 games since Jim Shaw back in 1919 with the Washington Senators.
Semien said he saw a better slider from Ohtani this time out. The pitch was often thrown as the first pitch for strikes, and was being placed down and away, the perfect location for bad contact.
“It’s tough when he keeps the fastball down for strikes and then throws the split,” Semien said. “For me, I was trying to get a fastball up and first two at-bats I didn’t get one. Plus it’s still 99 miles per hour, so you still gotta battle that.”
Semien finally got that fastball up in his third atbat after getting ahead in the count. That’s pretty much the only way hitters will have a chance at success against Ohtani, who seemed to make no mistakes before that Semien at-bat.
As far as thinking about the perfect game while at the plate, Semien said it was definitely on his mind.
“You never want to have a perfect game thrown on you, so of course it’s in the back of everyone’s mind,” Semien said. “It’s really hard to do as a pitcher. It takes a lot of focus to get every single hitter out without walking someone.”
Kendall Graveman was nothing close to perfect on the mound for the A’s.
The No. 1 starter continued to struggle as he turned in his worst outing of the season. Graveman was pulled with just one out in the third as he allowed five runs on five hits, with four walks and three strikeouts, throwing only 84 pitches.
Graveman was touched early for two runs in the second, then surrendered a booming solo home run to Mike Trout in the third that sailed over the center field wall to give the Angels a 3-0 lead.
“He’s just pressing a little bit,” Melvin said of Graveman. “He wants to do really well almost too badly right now. Looks a little bit tight out on the mound. He’s forcing some things a little bit. He’s just grinding too hard on it. Sometimes you gotta try easier.”
After allowing 12 home runs in 105 1/3 innings last season, Graveman has allowed at least one home run in each of his first three starts and five total homers in just 13 1/3 innings.
A pitcher who doesn’t produce very many swing and misses, Graveman relies on movement and keeping his sinker down in the zone to induce ground balls. That pitch was up in the zone several times Sunday afternoon, leading to his eventual downfall.
Now 0-2 with a 9.45 ERA through his first three starts of 2018, Graveman called the string of games one of the toughest stretches of his career. Though he appeared a bit dejected at his locker following the game, Graveman said he doesn’t feel like he’s pressing on the mound, he just needs to find a way to locate his pitches where he wants them on a more consistent basis.
“It’s a tough stretch but you can’t carry these over,” Graveman said. “At the end of the day, it’s a game. I understand we want to do well, but it’s not life or death. The biggest thing is just clearing the mind and executing pitches.”
Matt Joyce got the A’s on the board in the ninth inning with a solo home run off Felix Pena.
The A’s have yet to win a series this season and have now dropped four out of their last six games.