ANAHEIM, Calif. — Shohei Ohtani and Jared Walsh put an abrupt halt to an Angels blooper reel Wednesday, mashing three home runs between them in the final four innings of a 5-4 victory over the Boston Red Sox before 20,001 in Angel Stadium.
The Angels had seven hits through four innings, six of them bloop singles with exit velocities ranging from 64.4 mph to 79.9 mph. The other was a groundball infield single with an exit velocity of 34.6 mph.
But Ohtani and Walsh opened up the throttle with back-to-back homers to lead off the fifth inning, snapping a 2-2 tie.
Ohtani, after fouling two pitches off his front leg, crushed a 2-and-2 change-up from starter Eduardo Rodriguez, sending a 114.5-mph laser that traveled 433 feet to right field for his major league-leading 32nd homer of the season.
Walsh followed by rifling a 1-2 cut-fastball from Rodriguez that left his bat at 107.7 mph and traveled 433 feet to center for his 21st homer and a 4-2 lead.
The Red Sox trimmed the deficit to 4-3 with a run in the sixth, but Walsh got that run back in the seventh, driving his 22nd homer, a 406-foot shot to right that left his bat at 104.8 mph, for a 5-3 lead.
Boston pulled to within 5-4 in the eighth when Angels right fielder Luis Rengifo lost J.D. Martinez’s leadoff fly to the wall in the sun, the play going for a triple, and Xander Bogaerts lined an RBI double to right.
The Red Sox had the potential tying run at second with no outs, but reliever Mike Mayers preserved the 5-4 lead by getting Rafael Devers to foul out to third, striking out Hunter Renfroe with a slider and getting Christian Arroyo to ground out to second, David Fletcher ranging far behind the bag and making a long and accurate throw to first to end the inning.
Angels closer Raisel Iglesias struck out the side in the ninth for his 18th save, as the Angels won two out of three games against a Red Sox team that entered with an American League-best 54-33 record.
Ohtani’s 15th homer in his last 20 games also broke Hideki Matsui’s record for homers in a season by a Japanese-born player. Matsui hit 31 homers for the New York Yankees in 2004.
“Thirty-two home runs in a season is just a passing point for a hitter like Shohei,” Matsui said in a statement released by the Angels. “I was once considered a long-ball hitter in the major leagues, but I believe that he truly is a long-ball hitter. Furthermore, he is an amazing pitcher.
“He exceeds what is considered conventional for a major league player, and there is no one else like him. I hope he continues his success this season as he carries the hopes and dreams of many fans and young children. As a baseball fan myself, I can’t wait to see what he is able to do next.”
