ANAHEIM, Calif. — It was a silent night for Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani, who walked three times — twice intentionally — and hit a weak grounder and lazy fly ball in Saturday night’s 4-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles before 28,160 in Angel Stadium.
There also weren’t many loud noises emanating from the bats of the Orioles, which was soothing to the ears of Angels manager Joe Maddon.
Right-hander Alex Cobb gave up one run and four hits, two of them infield singles, in 7-2/3 innings, striking out six and walking one, a 112-pitch effort that led the Angels to their fifth win in six games.
It was the first time an Angels starter completed six innings since June 23, when Ohtani threw six innings against San Francisco, and the first time an Angels starter threw a pitch in the eighth inning since Dylan Bundy last Sept. 10.
Cobb, mixing a 93-mph, sinking fastball with an 88-mph, split-fingered fastball and 84-mph knuckle-curve, provided a much-needed quality start for a rotation that gave up 33 earned runs in 22 innings of seven previous games for a 13.50 earned-run average. He improved to 6-3 and lowered his ERA from 5.09 to 4.60.
The Angels scored twice in the first on Jared Walsh’s RBI infield single and Phil Gosselin’s fielder’s choice grounder, once in the second on Juan Lagares’ RBI double and once in the fifth when Walsh doubled and scored on Gosselin’s single.
Ohtani was intentionally walked with a runner on third and two outs in the second and sixth, the second walk eliciting angry boos, an indication that opponents are growing wary of challenging baseball’s hottest hitter.
Ohtani entered with a .333 average, 1.549 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, 13 homers and 21 RBIs in his previous 15 games. He homered twice Friday, pushing his major league-leading total to 30.
It was only the fourth and fifth intentional walks of the season for Ohtani, but there could be more in his near future until three-time American League most valuable player Mike Trout returns from a calf strain after the All-Star break, or No. 3 hitter Anthony Rendon starts raking.
Another option would be to move the left-handed-hitting Walsh, who is batting .284 with 20 homers and 60 RBIs, into the third spot, at least against right-handers.
Ohtani followed David Fletcher’s leadoff single, which extended the second baseman’s hitting streak to a career-high 17 games, with a walk in the first inning Saturday night.
Rendon walked to load the bases. Walsh’s run-scoring infield single and Gosselin’s RBI fielder’s-choice grounder gave the Angels a 2-0 lead, but Max Stassi grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Jose Iglesias singled to open the second and scored on Juan Lagares’ RBI double to left-center for a 3-0 lead. Lagares took third on Fletcher’s groundout to second. Orioles manager Brandon Hyde ordered pitcher Jorge Lopez to intentionally walk Ohtani.
Baltimore cut the lead to 3-1 in the third when Domingo Leyba walked off Angels starter Cobb, took third on Ramon Urias’ single to right and scored on Pat Valaika’s fielder’s-choice grounder.
