Anaheim, California – Shohei Ohtani showed power at the plate and on the mound as the Los Angeles Angels beat the Cleveland Guardians 9-5 in a 25-hit slugfest on Wednesday night.
Ohtani (2-2), making his fourth pitching start this year, survived a rough beginning to deliver the win, the Angels’ fourth straight. Los Angeles moved into first place in the American League West, a half-game ahead of the Seattle Mariners.
The right-hander surrendered Jose Ramirez’s two-run first-inning homer, but retired the last eight hitters he faced before departing after throwing 86 pitches in five innings. He allowed two earned runs on five hits with one walk and four strikeouts.
The 27-year-old Japanese went 3-for-5 with a run-scoring double and two singles as a designated hitter. It was his first three-hit game this season.
The Angels’ Taylor Ward finished a single shy of hitting for the cycle in the win. Ward doubled to lead off the first inning, hit a grand slam in the second, walked in the fourth and tripled in the sixth. He flew out in the seventh with a chance to complete the cycle.
The Angels’ offense was much more than Ward.
Los Angeles had 14 hits in all, including two doubles from Mike Trout.
Cleveland, which has lost six in a row, finished with 11 hits, including another two-run homer by Ramirez in the eighth inning.
Guardians starter Zach Plesac yielded seven runs — on seven hits and two walks in 3⅔ innings. He struck out two.
The Guardians broke through against Ohtani at the outset, with Myles Straw leading off the game with a walk and then scoring one out later on Ramirez’s homer.
Los Angeles responded in its half of the first against Plesac (1-2). Ward doubled and scored on Trout’s double. Trout then came home on Anthony Rendon’s two-out single, tying the game at 2-2.
The Angels opened it up in the second inning, loading the bases when Jack Mayfield reached on an error, Max Stassi singled and Tyler Wade bunted for a single.
Plesac got ahead 0-2 in the count to Ward, but left a slider up in the zone that Ward hammered into the seats in right-center for a grand slam and a 6-2 lead.
Plesac got through the third inning, but was replaced in the fourth when the Angels loaded the bases with two outs. Left-hander Sam Hentges entered to face the left-handed-hitting Jared Walsh, who singled home a run to make the score 7-2.
Ohtani and Trout had back-to-back RBI doubles in the sixth inning for the Angels’ final two runs of the game.
At Truist Park, Seiya Suzuki went 2-for-5 with an RBI as the visiting Chicago Cubs beat the Atlanta Braves 6-3 in 10 innings. The Cubs scored twice in the third when Rafael Ortega and Seiya Suzuki hit back-to-back doubles and Suzuki scored after a wild pitch and Ian Happ’s sacrifice fly to left field.
At PNC Park, Yoshitomo Tsutsugo went 0-for-2 with a pair of walks in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 3-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.
At Rogers Centre, Toronto Blue Jays second baseman Gosuke Katoh doubled for his first MLB hit on a 1-for-2 day. The Blue Jays, however, went down 7-1 to the Boston Red Sox, who snapped a four-game losing streak. Hirokazu Sawamura worked a third of an inning for the Red Sox without allowing a run.
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Source : Baseball – The Japan Times