ANAHEIM, Calif. — Every roar was a little louder, every gasp a little more intense.
And when the evening reached a crescendo, Angel Stadium sounded like normal again.
For the first time since 2019, there were no capacity limits at the Angels home ballpark on Thursday. And on what became a de facto “reopening day” game, Shohei Ohtani greeted the 30,709 in attendance with another two-way treat before Taylor Ward provided a raucous exclamation point in the seventh inning with his first career grand slam.
“There was definitely a higher level of energy in the ballpark today,” Angels manager Joe Maddon said. “It was only because of the fans.”
The Angels went on to win 7-5 against the Detroit Tigers, taking the first of a four-game series that is representing the greatest return to normalcy at their home stadium yet.
The last season and a half had been played under coronavirus pandemic restrictions, barring fans from entry last year, then limiting capacity to 33% for the first 34 home games of this campaign.
But on Thursday, the Angels’ first home game following California’s lifting of pandemic limitations two days earlier, the sea of once empty seats disappeared. The once muffled reactions of sparsely populated stands were gone.
Instead, the venue’s biggest crowd in 627 days had plenty to cheer, the Angels (34-35) bouncing back from a three-game sweep at the hands of the Oakland A’s earlier this week behind big games from Ohtani and Ward.
Ohtani shined early on, walking twice as a batter and giving up only one run in six innings on the mound.
He overcame some early command issues by mixing in a season-high proportion of sliders, a pitch he said he wanted to throw more often to left-handers in particular.
“He didn’t have his fastball command, so he pitched more with his breaking balls,” added Maddon. “That’s what he does. He’ll know what he’s got going on and he makes adjustments.”
Ohtani fielded his position on a couple occasions and benefitted from even stronger team defense behind him, including two double-plays and a perfectly executed relay play between Ward in right field and second baseman Luis Rengifo during the second inning to throw a runner out at third.
“Those plays were huge for me, especially because I didn’t have my strikeout pitches today,” said Ohtani, who matched a season-low with only five strikeouts. “Getting those big outs on the defensive side was huge for me.”
And he not only lowered his season ERA to 2.70, but also produced his third six-inning outing in his past four starts, something he achieved only once in his first six appearances this season.
Ohtani probably could have pitched deeper into the evening too, his only run coming on a solo home run in the sixth inning that cut a two-run Angels — Rengifo, who was recalled earlier in the day, and David Fletcher hit RBI singles in the second inning — lead in half.
However, even with Ohtani only at 78 pitches, Maddon instead turned to his bullpen to begin the seventh, summoning Tony Watson to protect the one-run advantage.
“I thought that was a pretty significant day’s work for him,” Maddon said of removing Ohtani. “It is still June, and I want this guy to have one of the greatest seasons ever. So you don’t want to jeopardize his overall health.”
Watson, who a day earlier had given up a career-high six earned runs without recording an out, barely kept the lead intact, stranding a runner at third in an inning that included a leadoff double and wacky six-throw rundown between third base and home plate.
A half-inning later, Ward broke the game open.
After the first four batters in the bottom of the seventh reached base, including an RBI single from Jose Iglesias, Ward unloaded the bases with a grand slam to left-center, the ball bouncing out of sight as the stadium’s decibel level spiked to pre-pandemic heights.
“It’s one of those moments you never want to end,” said Ward, who was previously zero for five with one walk in his career with the bases loaded. “As a player, as you get into things, you maybe don’t notice (the crowd) as much. But having that many people all of a sudden, you feel it for sure. It was great.”
There were nervy moments down the stretch.
In the eighth, reliever Mike Mayers surrendered one run before turning a bases-loaded and no-out jam over to closer Raisel Iglesias, who let two of the inherited runners score.
The Tigers (29-40) scored again in the ninth and with two outs had the tying run at the plate. But Raisel Iglesias finally completed the six-out save on a game-ending groundout, pointing to the sky in celebration as the restriction-less crowd came to life one last time.
“It is definitely something we had been missing for a bit,” Maddon said. “I just want the fans to know that.”
