The Angels’ bats struggled to put up hits and any runs at all in their game against the Diamondbacks on Friday. Shohei Ohtani provided their first bit of run support in his signature way.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Ohtani sent Tommy Henry’s one-and-0 slider 493 feet into the night. It was his longest traveled home run — the previous one was 470 feet, a home run hit against the Kansas City Royals in 2021.
The shot added to Ohtani’s growing list of career achievements. Aside from leading all of baseball with 30 home runs, he hit 15 of those shots this month. His 15 June home runs put him in a four-way tie for most home runs hit in the month.
The other four? Babe Ruth (1930), Bob Johnson (1934) and Roger Maris (1961).
Ohtani has had such an impressive season so far that he also joined Sammy Sosa as the only other player to hit 30 home runs and steal 10 bases before July. Sosa did so during the 1998 season.
Ohtani followed his Herculean effort by scoring again in the bottom of the eighth inning, driven in after Anthony Rendon — who returned from the injured list ahead of Friday’s game — grounded out.
The loss in Friday’s game went to Angels’ starter Griffin Canning, who gave up five earned runs on three hits, four walks and nine batters struck out during six innings. Most of the damage happened in the top of the second inning, when Canning gave up a grand slam to Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the LA sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.