Shohei Ohtani slugged his 20th and 21st homers of the season Friday, the fourth multi-homer game of his career, as the Los Angeles Angels blew out the Detroit Tigers 11-3 in Anaheim, California.
Ohtani’s 400-foot shot in the fifth inning left the bat at 114 mph before clearing the wall in right-center, highlighting a five-run rally. It was sandwiched by Luis Rengifo’s first homer, a solo shot to right-center, and Jared Walsh’s 16th, a two-run clout to right-center that capped the outburst. Ohtani polished off another big evening by cracking a two-out solo shot to left-center in the eighth against Joe Jimenez. The 408-foot shot had an estimated exit velocity of 109 mph.
Walsh’s blast ended the night for Detroit starter Jose Urena, who dropped to 2-7 after being blasted for seven hits and seven runs in 4⅓ innings. Urena walked three and struck out four.
Alex Cobb (5-2) worked 5⅔ innings to earn the win, giving up just three hits and an unearned run in a 111-pitch outing. Cobb issued two walks and whiffed eight.
Justin Upton helped lead the Angels’ 13-hit onslaught by going 3-for-4, scoring three runs, drawing a walk and knocking in a run with a sixth-inning single. Taylor Ward collected three hits and drove in three runs.
Los Angeles started the scoring in the second inning when Kean Wong grounded a single up the middle to score Max Stassi. An inning later, Ward laced an 0-2 pitch to left for a double that chased Upton home for a 2-0 advantage.
After the Angels put the game away in the fifth, they added three runs in the sixth. The big hit was Ward’s two-run double to the wall in left-center that made it 10-1.
Miguel Cabrera, Willi Castro and Robbie Grossman knocked in runs for the Tigers. Cabrera and Nomar Mazara each collected two of Detroit’s six hits.
Elsewhere, Yusei Kikuchi pitched seven strong innings Friday night as the Seattle Mariners sent the visiting Tampa Bay Rays to their fourth consecutive defeat, 5-1.
Ty France had three hits including a double, and Luis Torrens drove in two runs for the Mariners, who won for the fifth time in their past six games to reach the .500 mark.
Kikuchi (4-3) allowed one run on four hits with three walks and six strikeouts. It was the eighth quality start in the past nine appearances for the left-hander — the lone blemish in that stretch was a game in which he was knocked out in the fifth inning when taking a hard one-hopper off his right knee.
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Source : Baseball – The Japan Times
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