ANAHEIM, Calif. — Angels designated hitter Shohei Ohtani hit his 29th and 30th home runs of the season Friday.
Mike Trout won’t play in the July 13 All-Star game, a right-calf strain sidelining the Angels center fielder until shortly after the break, and he said on Friday that he hasn’t decided if he will travel to Denver for two days of All-Star festivities.
But there is one highly magnetic force that could pull the three-time American League most valuable player toward Coors Field: teammate Shohei Ohtani’s participation in the July 12 home run derby.
Ohtani belted two more homers against the Baltimore Orioles in Angel Stadium Friday night, giving the dynamic two-way star a major league-leading 30 homers through 81 games, the most first-half homers in franchise history, breaking Trout’s mark of 28, set in 2019.
The slugger then showed off one of his many tools — his blazing speed — drawing a one-out walk in the ninth inning, stealing second with two outs and racing home on Jared Walsh’s run-scoring single to right field to give the Angels an 8-7, walk-off win before a crowd of 23,561.
Angels relievers Aaron Slegers, Jose Quintana, Steve Cishek, Mike Mayers and Raisel Iglesias combined for 61/3 innings of one-run, two-hit ball, and the score was tied 7-7 when Ohtani walked in the ninth.
His 12th stolen base of the season put him in scoring position for Walsh, who sent a 109-mph laser that got to right fielder Ryan McKenna before Ohtani touched third.
Ohtani was waved home by third-base coach Brian Butterfield and beat the throw with a feet-first slide that was upheld by instant replay, Ohtani laying on his back in the dirt behind home plate as his teammates swarmed him.
Earlier in the game, the left-handed-hitting Ohtani drove a first-pitch fastball from Orioles left-hander Keegan Akin 416 feet over the right-field wall for his 29th homer to lead off the third.
Ohtani then capped a three-run fourth by lining a 96-mph fastball from right-hander Dillon Tate over the left-field wall for his 30th homer, an opposite-field shot that left his bat at 111 mph, traveled 400 feet and gave the Angels a 7-6 lead.
Ohtani’s second homer took starter Griffin Canning off the hook for a potential loss. The right-hander was tagged for six runs and six hits, including homers by Trey Mancini (first inning) and Domingo Leyba (second) and Anthony Santander’s three-run double in the third, in 22/3 innings.
Jose Iglesias hit a two-run homer in the second, and then it was Sho Time, Ohtani thrilling the crowd with his sixth career multi-homer game and third this season.
Ohtani has hit a 470-foot homer, four other homers that traveled 440 feet or more and one that left his bat at 117 mph this season. The combination of Ohtani’s sheer strength, Denver’s thin air and the livelier balls used in the home run derby should make for an explosive power display on July 12.
“If you haven’t seen him take (batting practice), watch him in the home run derby, because it’s gonna be a show,” Trout said. “He can hit, line to line, with stupid power, and to see him hit in Colorado, with those balls they use in the derby, it’s gonna be must-see TV.
“It’s such an easy swing, but it’s violent. You’ve seen it the last few weeks. He’s unconscious at the plate. Anything he hits, it’s over the fence. With those balls they use in the derby, he might leave the stadium. Honestly. I’m being serious.”
Trout, whose May 17 calf strain was expected to sideline him for six to eight weeks, is on track to return shortly after the break. He’s been playing catch and started swinging a bat and jogging on a weightless treadmill this week.
Justin Upton, one of the Angels’ hottest hitters before he suffered a lower-back strain on June 22, could be activated as early as Sunday.
