Shohei “Idoryu” Ohtani (29-LA Angels) has one blade dulled.
Ohtani took the mound for the Angels in their Major League Baseball (MLB) home game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Angels Stadium in Anaheim, California, United States (USA) on 22 March (Tuesday), but gave up five runs on six hits, including four home runs, in six and one-third innings.
In the top of the fourth inning, he gave up a leadoff solo homer to “Korean Big Leaguer” Choi Ji-Man and a back-to-back homer to Henry Davis. He gave up a two-run homer to Zack Swinski in the top of the fifth to make it 5-2, and another to Davis in the sixth.
With eight runs of run support from the bats, Ohtani picked up his eighth win of the season (5-0) as the Angels won 8-5, but he took some pride in tying his career high for home runs allowed in a single game (4). It was also the first time Ohtani has hit two home runs off the same batter (Davis) in the same game.
The pitcher and hitter has a commanding lead in the American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) race for the 2023 season. In 89 games as a hitter in the first half, he batted .302 with 32 home runs, 71 RBIs and an OPS of 1.050, the sum of his slugging percentage (0.387) and on-base percentage (0.663). First in home runs-OPS. In 17 games as a starting pitcher, he was also solid, going 7-4 with a 3.32 ERA and 132 strikeouts.
He also piled up the numbers. In the first half alone, Ohtani surpassed the 100-hit-100-strikeout mark, becoming the first player in MLB history to do so in three consecutive seasons. On 4 May, he struck out 13 against the St. Louis Cardinals to surpass 500 career strikeouts, becoming only the second player in history to record 100 home runs and 500+ strikeouts, joining MLB legend Babe Ruth (501 strikeouts, 714 home runs).
As a hitter, he’s also been hot in the second half. He homered in three straight games, from the Houston Astros on the 16th to the New York Yankees on the 18th. In the bottom of the ninth inning of a 7-9 loss in Houston on the 17th, he hit an arching shot to pull within one run, and in the bottom of the seventh inning against the New York Yankees on the 18th, he hit a two-run homer to tie the game at 3-3. Ohtani has 18 home runs this season, all of which have come in close games with a tie or a lead of three runs or less. He continues to showcase his clutch ability. With his 36th home run of the season on 24 April against Pittsburgh, Ohtani extended his lead over second-place Matt Olson (Atlanta Braves) to four, and is closing in on the home run title.온라인카지노
On the mound, however, his pace has dropped dramatically. Ohtani gave up five runs (two homers) on seven hits in five innings against the San Diego Padres on the 5th and five runs (four earned) on five hits in five innings against Houston on the 15th. Allowed five or more runs in three straight games in July. His ERA, which was 3.02 in June, soared to 3.71.
Ohtani’s average velocity on his four-seam fastball, which was 155.8 km/h in June, dropped to 154.2 km/h in July. It was only 153 km/h against San Diego on the 5th. In three games in July, Ohtani’s batting average on fastballs was .348.
His cut fastball and sweeper led to a lot of long balls.