ANAHEIM — After Shohei Ohtani pitched brilliantly in the Angels’ 6-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Monday night, Joe Maddon was asked to evaluate Ohtani’s MVP chances.
The Angels’ manager didn’t hold back.
“I know there are other guys having good years, but you have to stop and analyze what’s going on here,” Maddon said. “There’s nobody who comes close to what he’s doing. It’s way imbalanced. To me, it’s not even close. When people talk about it being close, it’s not.
“What he’s doing is so unique, so different. To compare him to anyone else, you just can’t.”
Although there are more than two months to go in the season, Ohtani added another line to his résumé by pitching seven dominant innings on Monday. He has lowered his ERA to 3.04, to go along with a major league-leading 35 home runs and a 1.040 OPS.
“It’s a huge honor and I’m really happy to hear MVP talk about me, but right now I haven’t been able to finish as a hitter and pitcher in the full season, so the focus is staying healthy and finishing strong,” Ohtani said through his interpreter. “If the award comes at the end, that’s the best scenario.”
Ohtani showed off his two-way skills in the first inning, putting a zero on the board and then helping create two runs. He singled to drive in a run, then he stole a base and scored on a single.
On a night when the Angels won their third straight, there was one potentially troubling development. All-Star first baseman Jared Walsh left the game after the seventh inning with what the team called right abdominal soreness. Maddon said the trainers didn’t believe it is serious, but he’ll be re-evaluated on Tuesday.
The night belonged to Ohtani, whose remarkable season continued with his third straight strong game since that nightmarish outing when he didn’t get out of the first inning at Yankee Stadium. Ohtani (5-1) has a 1.35 ERA over 20 innings since then.
“He did not like what happened in New York at all,” Maddon said. “And so he is going to do something about it. That’s what I get from him. He has a couple of bad days at the plate. ‘I’m going to do something about it.’ He’s a self-starter, self-motivated. He’s good enough to make adjustments on the fly. So it doesn’t surprise me that he rebounded from that start as he has.”
Ohtani’s adjustments have also manifested in the way that he’s changed his pitch mix dramatically from game to game, and even within games, based on what is working and what he thinks the opponents are expecting.
On Monday he started off leaning heavily on his slider, and once he felt the Rockies were looking for that, he shifted gears to use his splitter.
The only run Ohtani allowed on Monday night was a homer to Dom Nuñez on a hanging slider in the fifth.
But Ohtani made up for that the next time he faced Nuñez, in his seventh and final inning. Ohtani had been pitching to contact for much of the game to manage his pitch count. He struck out just three in the first six innings.
But in the seventh, knowing it was his final inning, he let it all go. He struck out two of three hitters, including Nuñez for the final out. He struck out Nuñez on a 99.7 mph fastball, his hardest of the night, and then he pumped his fist as he walked off the mound.
“When he wants to challenge, it’s in there,” Maddon said. “It’s in the tank all the time. He pulls it out at the right times.”
Ohtani’s performance continued an encouraging trend for the Angels, whose starters have a 3.13 ERA in July.
They also had their starter finish at least seven innings in three straight games for the first time all season. Up until Sunday, they hadn’t even had their starter go seven in two straight games.
While the Angels got a good performance from Ohtani, they didn’t give him much run support.
Part of the problem – as usual – was that they continue to be without Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon. Also, they were facing Rockies All-Star right-hander German Marquez.
The Angels got to Marquez for two runs in the first, with the help of an error and then three singles. After that, though, the Angels didn’t really put much pressure on Marquez until the sixth, when Walsh singled and went to third on a Brandon Marsh double. Max Stassi was called out on strikes to strand the runners.
After Jack Mayfield’s homer gave the Angels’ a 4-1 lead, José Quintana and Steve Cishek labored through the eighth but managed to give up just one run. The inning ended with Cishek getting Sam Hilliard on a flyout to the fence with two runners on.
The Angels added two insurance runs in the eighth before closer Raisel Iglesias worked the ninth to secure the victory.
he is not human#WeBelieve I @Angels pic.twitter.com/kkeL9uGghC
— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) July 27, 2021
Joe talks Sho’s big win and what happened to Walshy later in the game#WeBelieve I @Angels pic.twitter.com/IjkeRaX0de
— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) July 27, 2021
Captain Jack is all smiles after his last few games
#WeBelieve I @Angels pic.twitter.com/bxfVM2NHQG
— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) July 27, 2021
Leave a Reply