Ohtani established another career-high with 13 strikeouts over eight scoreless innings to help the Angels defeat the Royals 5-0 on Wednesday night at Angel Stadium, just one night after going deep twice and setting a career-high with eight RBIs at the plate. Unsurprisingly, Ohtani became the first player in AL/NL history to have at least eight RBIs in a game and strike out at least ten batters the following day after retiring 23 of the final 24 men he faced.
"Interim manager Phil Nevin stated, "He just placed us on his back. It was simply amazing. After the eighth, I considered ejecting him, but he was adamant, "This is mine." What a performance by him, and what a day."
The only other person with a 10-strikeout game as a pitcher and an 8-RBI game as a hitter in a career is Atlanta Braves right-hander Tony Cloninger. On Opening Day in 1966, Cloninger struck out 12 batters. Later, as a pitcher, on July 3, 1966, Cloninger got nine RBIs, including two grand slams, although he never struck out 13 batters. Ohtani also recorded 13 strikeouts in a game, the first since Patrick Sandoval did so on July 24 against the Twins last year, making him just the 19th player in Angels history to do so.
"No one else is performing what he is. It's enjoyable to share the pitch with a special player who comes along only once in a generation."
The Angels commemorated the 20th anniversary of their 2002 World Series victory on the same night that Ohtani, who won the American League MVP award unanimously last season, performed. It surpassed his previous record of 12 hitters struck out, which he had set against the A's on April 8, 2018, and the Astros on April 20, this year. On Wednesday, he went 1-for-3 at the plate and drew two walks. In 69 games, he has hit.260/.336/.487 with 15 home runs and 45 RBIs.
However, he found his rhythm after that, retiring the next 16 batters in a row, including ten by strikeout, before giving Merrifield a walk in the sixth. He quickly forced Andrew Benintendi to ground into a double play to close the inning.
"Ohtani added through interpreter Ippei Mizuhara, "I think the greatest thing was putting up that zero in the first inning after giving up those two hits. You can say that was the game's turning point. "I had to throw in the cage to get ready because I was informed the game would begin at 6:49, but I think it was a good learning lesson because unexpected things happen occasionally."
Despite a rare damp night at Angel Stadium with distant lightning strikes, Ohtani had everything working and maintained his high velocity. On his 89th pitch of the evening, he touched 99.9 mph before striking out MJ Melendez, looking on a 3-2 curveball for his 11th strikeout. On his 96th pitch of the evening, he then punched Hunter Dozier out to finish the seventh inning.
"When you see it every day, you can assume you become accustomed to its magnificence, but Nevin pointed out that there are many aspects to him. "Exactly how his head is set up for the game. Everything is known to him. He is amazing. It's entertaining to be a part of every day to witness what he does on a baseball field."
Ohtani improved to 6-4 with a 2.90 ERA and 90 strikeouts in 68 1/3 innings across 12 starts this year before being relieved by Ryan Tepera in the ninth. With his 14 swings and misses, he used his slider seven times, splitter four times, fastball twice, and cutter once. He also had reasonable control of his slider and curveball, as evidenced by the 19 strikes called on his slider and eight on his curve.
Manager of the Royals Mike Matheny remarked, "It's an extraordinary variety of pitches. In my opinion, there aren't many individuals around with as many weapons as we saw today. He was aiming for strikes with every toss. He was using a cutter, a curve, and three separate sliders. The strikeouts began to accumulate after the split got rolling. He also has 100 in the tank, although he hardly ever uses them.
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