Ohtani does it all in Angels’ seesaw win
The Japanese slugger hits two homers and scores the winning run in the ninth
Over this most recent stretch of their road trip, the Orioles have been swinging some hot bats. Even as they continued Friday night in the first of a three-game series in Anaheim against the Los Angeles Angels to build a big lead, it didn’t help them win when up against the hottest, most sensational hitter in all of baseball: Shohei Ohtani.
A pair of two-run home runs by the two-way Japanese sensation erased an early lead, and he scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth as the Orioles snapped their three-game winning streak with Friday’s 8-7 loss to the Angels in Anaheim, California.
Paul Fry entered the game with one out in the ninth and walked Ohtani, who stole second and used that speed to score from there on a single to right field by Jared Walsh. The Orioles (27-55) waited for a moment on the field to see if the close play at the plate would be challenged. Ultimately, it wasn’t.
Their pause proved to be just an opportunity to absorb how the best player in baseball had undone their attempts at extending a winning streak that came about with a sweep of the Houston Astros.
Trey Mancini homered in the first inning, Domingo Leyba doubled the Orioles lead with a solo home run of his own, and a fourrun third inning came thanks to a double from Anthony Santander that scored three runs and a double by Pedro Severino that scored Santander.
That created a 6-2 Orioles lead, before Ohtani hit his league-leading 29th home run of the season in the third inning off a subpar Keegan Akin and his 30th an inning later off reliever Dillon Tate to give the Angels a 7-6 lead.
Debuting right-hander Spenser Watkins, plus left-hander Tanner Scott and righthander Tyler Wells all conspired to keep the Angels from expanding on their lead, and a sixth-inning double with two outs by Austin Hays scored Cedric Mullins and tied the score at 7.
Akin pulled early
Akin joined the Orioles rotation at the end of May after starting the year in the minors then missing some time following a knife accident in the kitchen. He started off well, allowing four earned runs in 13 ⅔ innings over his first three starts.
In four starts since, however, the four earned runs he allowed on seven hits in three innings Friday night was the fewest, albeit in the shortest outing. Akin has allowed 23 earned runs in 14 innings across that span.
Injury updates
Manager Brandon Hyde said he expects right-hander Hunter Harvey (lat strain) to be out for at least a month after he was placed on the 10-day injured list Friday, but right-hander Travis Lakins Sr. will be out longer. Hyde said further tests showed Lakins suffered a “significant elbow injury” in his start Tuesday.