MIAMI — Shohei Ohtani continues to dazzle throughout this disappointing stretch for the Angels.
Ohtani gave up just one unearned run in seven innings and he drove in the go-ahead runs in the Angels’ 5-2 victory over the Miami Marlins on Wednesday night.
Ohtani did most of the heavy lifting to snap the Angels’ four-game losing streak, giving them their first victory on this nine-game trip.
While the Angels have been mostly losing for the past six weeks, Ohtani has been pitching as well as ever.
Over his last five starts, he’s 5-0 with an 0.27 ERA, including 46 strikeouts and nine walks in 33 2/3 innings.
Ohtani came into the game with a 21 2/3 inning scoreless streak, but that ended when he gave up an unearned run in the first inning. Shortstop Luis Rengifo made a bad throw after backhanding a grounder from speedy leadoff hitter Jon Berti. Joey Wendle then doubled and Garrett Cooper drove in Berti with a sacrifice fly.
After that, Ohtani cruised.
Ohtani issued a walk and gave up a single in the second, but then he started a string of retiring 15 consecutive hitters.
Ohtani’s slider and splitter were both effective. He got 11 whiffs on 22 swings at his slider, and six whiffs on eight swings against his splitter. Ohtani also had his top fastball velocity, including a fifth-inning strikeout of Jacob Stallings on a 100.9-mph fastball.
He walked two hitters in the seventh, prompting a visit from pitching coach Matt Wise and action in the bullpen. Ohtani then escaped the inning by striking out pinch-hitter Nick Fortes on three pitches, his 10th strikeout of the game.
Ryan Tepera and Raisel Iglesias worked the final two innings to close it out, with a four-run lead thanks to the long overdue awakening of the Angels’ offense.
The Angels came into the game on a franchise-worst streak of four straight games with three hits or fewer, and they equaled that total in the fifth inning alone.
Michael Stefanic led off with a dribbler that went for an infield hit, the first of his two hits. Max Stassi then hit one into the gap in left-center and sliding left fielder Berti couldn’t hold it. Monte Harrison was hit by a pitch, loading the bases.
After Jonathan Villar hit a comebacker that pitcher Trevor Rogers threw home for a force, Mike Trout was hit by a pitch to drive in the tying run.
Ohtani then poked a two-run single into left field, driving in two to give the Angels their first multi-run inning of the five games so far on this trip.
The Angels added two more runs in the seventh, on RBI hits by Taylor Ward and Rengifo, to crack the five-run mark for the first time since June 22.
