ANAHEIM, Calif. — Shohei Ohtani made a run at history in his final home start of the season.
The Angels’ two-way star was just four outs away from a no-hitter in a 4-2 victory over the Oakland A’s on Thursday night, working amid chants of “M-V-P! M-V-P!” from the Angel Stadium crowd.
Oakland outfielder Connor Capel hit a bouncer that ticked off the glove of shortstop Livan Soto, attempting to make a backhand stop, with two outs in the eighth. Dermis Garcia then punched a clean single into left field.
Ohtani allowed just those two hits in eight innings, striking out 10 and walking one.
A no-hitter would have been an impressive addition to Ohtani’s resume as he attempts to win his second straight American League MVP award.
New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge is considered the heavy favorite because he’s blasted 61 homers, equaling the American League record, and he’s vying for a Triple Crown.
While Ohtani can’t compete with Judge’s offensive numbers, he is having perhaps the greatest two-way season in history, even better than the one that won him the award unanimously last year.
Ohtani is 15-8 with a 2.35 ERA and 213 strikeouts, to go with 34 home runs, 94 RBIs and an .887 OPS.
Ohtani took the mound for his 27th start of the season, and his final one at home. With the Angels having dropped out of the pennant race months ago, much of the buzz surrounding the team is about Ohtani.
Before the game, Manager Phil Nevin was asked about the excitement on the days when Ohtani pitches.
“I think everybody looks forward to this day,” Nevin said. “My parents only come when he pitches.”
Although Ohtani has done spectacular things throughout his five years in the big leagues, he hadn’t even flirted with a no-hitter since his rookie year. In the second start of his career, he lost a no-hit bid with one out in seventh. Since then, he had not finished six innings without allowing a hit. He never threw a no-hitter in Japan, and he has never thrown any complete game in the majors.
On this night, Ohtani relied heavily on his off-speed pitches, mainly his 52 sliders and 22 cutters among his 108 pitches. He threw just four four-seam fastballs and 11 of his new sinker.
He still had little trouble going through the A’s, who came into the game with a major league-worst .630 OPS.
Ohtani walked Tony Kemp, the first hitter of the game, on six pitches. He came back to strike out Vimael Machin. He then got Sean Murphy to ground a ball to third baseman Luis Rengifo, who started an easy around-the-horn double play.
Ohtani’s pitch count was trending a little high for him to be able to complete the game when he was at 56 pitches after five innings, but he needed just seven pitches to get through the fifth and nine in the sixth.
Meanwhile, Ohtani also helped the Angels take a quick lead, with his RBI single in the first inning giving them a 2-0 lead. The hit extended Ohtani’s hitting streak to a career-best 14 games. Luis Rengifo had led off the inning with his 16th homer of the season.
After that, the Angels’ insurance runs came in quick bursts: solo homers by Taylor Ward in the third and Max Stassi in the sixth.
That allowed Ohtani to get back on the mound quickly, without waiting through long rallies by his teammates.
The crowd was rocking as he recorded each out through the late innings. Stassi, the catcher, made a nice catch of a foul pop against the screen to begin the eighth. Ohtani then struck out Jordan Diaz.
Capel, who was playing just his 17th big league game, then ended Ohtani’s no-hit bid with a single. Ohtani still escaped the inning without a run, the fourth time in his career he had pitched eight innings, and the second time he’d pitched eight scoreless innings.
