BALTIMORE — Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Shohei Ohtani made history again on Monday night.
We all know Ohtani is an incredible baseball player. And it’s not just because he’s a two-way player. It’s because he’s an amazing two-way player. He is good at both positions. He plays at an MVP level nearly every season.
On Monday night in Baltimore, Ohtani was having a bit of trouble with the pitching side of his performance, which happens from time to time, but offensively, he matched a record from 1964 and nearly set a new one.
It was the second time this season that Ohtani just missed getting a cycle. He finished a double short on Monday and finished a home run short on April 27.
On the latest episode of Locked On Angels, host Jon Frisch discussed Ohtani’s night in Baltimore, focusing on the pitching side first.
Frisch said, “Is there concern about Shohei Ohtani and the number of home runs he’s been giving up this season? Well, here’s the thing. Last year, he gave up 14 in total when he was pitching last year. This year, he’s already given up 10.” Frisch pointed out how Ohtani was able to go seven innings last night, but of the four hits he surrendered to the Orioles, three of them were home runs.
Let's compare and contrast the batting line vs. the pitching line for Ohtani.
Batting: 4-5 with two singles, a triple, a home run and a walk.
Pitching: 7 IP, 4 hits, 5 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 3 HRs
This is why Ohtani's offensive performance was so important. 99 percent of MLB pitchers have no control over what their offense does for them when they start. They must sit in the dugout and watch to see if their teammates can give them run support or get shut down. The beauty of Ohtani being a two-way player is that he can help his own cause. And he did that on Monday.
Ohtani finished a double short of the cycle, and when he didn’t get that double, the Orioles fans in attendance booed Ohtani. Sure, you want to root for the home team, but you also want the chance to see history, and while the fans in Camden Yards may have believed they missed out on history last night, they actually didn’t. Ohtani matched a record set by Mel Stottlemyre, becoming the first pitcher since 1964 to reach base safely five times in a game.
Interestingly enough, Stottlemyre also was a double short of the cycle when he accomplished his feat in September 1964, hitting two singles, a triple, and a home run while drawing one walk.
After the game, Ohtani acted nonchalant about the whole thing saying through his interpreter, “I’m sure all those records come because the sample size is so small,” He added, “So I don’t really look too deeply into it. But today I had a bad beginning of the game, giving up those runs. So that was the thought about the game today.”
Ohtani also hit a three-run home run to break a 4-4 tie. The ball traveled 456 feet and was 114.6 mph off the bat.
Ohtani had two chances to get the cycle. He grounded into a force play in the seventh and hit a single in the ninth.
As we said earlier in this article, this is the second time in 2023 that Shohei Ohtani has just missed hitting for the cycle, so will the third time be the charm? Angels catcher Chad Wallach thinks so, saying, "I'm sure it will happen someday. Just watching him every game is super impressive."
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