Ohtani loses no-hitter late
ing,” interim manager Phil Nevin said. “When we got through the seventh, I really thought it was gonna happen.”
Certainly not his catcher.
“I don’t think anything that Shohei does, really, surprises me because I think the sky’s the limit for him,” Max Stassi said. “He can do anything in this game and he’s proven that.”
Certainly not his fellow MVP-winning teammate.
“Everybody thought he was gonna do it,” Mike Trout said. “If he threw a no-hitter, the MVP conversation would be ridiculous.”
Ohtani gave up just two hits and walked one batter, striking out 10 and going two for four with an RBI in eight innings.
Before giving up consecutive singles in the eighth — the second one was hit by Dermis Garcia — Ohtani had one blemish: a walk to Tony Kemp to start the game.
Kemp was erased on a double play and Ohtani faced the minimum batters through seven innings.
At one point he struck out four in a row between the fourth and fifth innings. That fifth inning also ended with Ohtani fielding a dribbler to first base. He jogged off the field, fistpumped low, and went into the dugout.
The exhilaration of Ohtani’s mastery built among the crowd as the innings wore on, each pitch more precious than the last. The “M-V-P” chants grew louder and after the final out of the seventh inning — a sharp grounder to third baseman Luis Rengifo — the crowd’s energy became more than emotion, but a physical electricity.
There were little moments of gratitude that Ohtani extended his teammates around him, like when he walked off the mound and pointed a finger in appreciation of Rengifo’s play to end the seventh.
Or the finger-pointing thanks to his catcher, Max Stassi, who caught a foul ball that popped up high and dropped along the back netting.
Soto felt bad for missing what was arguably a difficult ball to make a play on and did apologize to Ohtani for not helping keep the no-hitter intact but Ohtani said he wasn’t bitter about it.
Ohtani’s first hit of the night extended his hit streak to 14 games — the longest active streak in the majors — with an RBI single he got off of A’s starter Cole Irvin in the first inning.
It’s a career high for Ohtani, whose previous long lasted 11 games.
His two singles gave him his 24th and 25th hit in games he has pitched this season.
Ohtani is scheduled for one final start , the final game of the Angels season in Oakland on Oct. 5.
Whether Ohtani is the designated hitter or also the starting pitcher, a certain level of greatness is always anticipated.
It’s anticipated by his team, by the opposing team, by the fans who fill Angel Stadium even for a lateSeptember game in another losing season.
“Everybody looks forward to this day. I think my parents only come when he pitches,” Nevin joked before the game on Thursday.
Added A’s manager Mark Kotsay of how to prepare to hit against Ohtani, “The same way we did with [Jacob] deGrom, the same way we did with [Max] Scherzer, same way we did with all the best pitchers in the game.”
The Angels offense as a whole strung together 13 hits and four runs, three off the bats of Rengifo, Taylor Ward and Stassi, who all hit solo home runs.