A’s receive full Ohtani experience on mound, at plate in loss originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
Unfortunately for the Athletics, they got the full Shohei Ohtani experience on Tuesday night at the Oakland Coliseum.
Losing 5-1 to Ohtani and the Los Angeles Angels, the two-way phenom dominated Oakland on the mound and at the plate, throwing six shutout innings and launching a solo home run in the top of the seventh.
In the bottom of the third inning, Ohtani was hit by a comebacker off the bat of A’s outfielder Ramón Laureano, which he recovered to record the final out before limping off the field.
He would stay in the game to throw three more innings before capping off his incredible night with a booming home run to right field.
A’s manager Mark Kotsay tipped his cap to Ohtani, who mixed in a nasty split-finger fastball that gave Oakland trouble throughout the game.
“Last outing in Anaheim, he threw a lot of sliders,” Kotsay told reporters postgame. “He still threw sliders tonight, but he had a split-finger that was his equalizer really. That pitch, when he tunnels it off the fastball, which he did tonight pretty effectively with success, it’s going to be tough. He showed tonight that ability to take it up a notch when he needed to and obviously grind through the foot injury.”
Ohtani knows how to draw a crowd, even on the road. But Kotsay was not enjoying the show on Tuesday night.
“I don’t particularly care to watch it on my end,” Kotsay joked. “I tip my cap to the success that he has doing it both ways. We’ve seen it in the past against other teams. We got to see it tonight.”
Ohtani outdueled A’s starter James Kaprielian (L, 5 IP, 3 ER, 3 BB, 6 K) on his way to his 10th win of the season. He joined Babe Ruth as the only two players in MLB history to hit 10 home runs and win 10 games in a single season, according to Action Network.
“It shows his athleticism, it shows his talent,” Kotsay said of Ohtani’s historic outing. “At this point you could say that it’s one of a kind in the game, because it is. He’s the only player doing it right now and doing it well.”
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The A’s would go on to score only one run, a solo home run off the bat of Chad Pinder in the bottom of the ninth inning.
After winning nine of 14 games after the All-Star break, the A’s have since lost four straight, and Ohtani’s historic night stole the show at the Coliseum on Tuesday.