ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — He led the Los Angeles Angels to a 4-2 win over the Oakland Athletics Thursday night, pitching a no-hitter in the eighth inning and extending his streak to 14 games.
In his final home start of the season, Ohtani (15-8) gave Tony Kemp a lead walk before letting the next 22 hitters retire in order. Conner Capel broke the no-hit bid with a sharp bowler that deflected sliding shortstop Livan Soto’s glove and into left midfield, in the first half. There were two outs in eight innings.
Even if Soto is able to play, it will be difficult for him to throw away Capel.
Dermis Garcia followed with a clean single to the left before Ohtani put Shea Langeliers back in the third with a grounder.
Ohtani had a perfect 5 1/3 inning for Houston on April 20 before Jason Castro singled to left field in the sixth. It was Houston’s only hit in the game.
The right-hander allowed two hits and struck out 10 in eight scoreless innings to match his longest playing time of the season. He also played eight innings without a decision on Sept. 9 against Houston. 3.
The two-way superstar and reigning AL MVP from Japan also extended his batting streak to 14 and hit a single in Game 1. It’s currently the longest winning streak in the major leagues. Ohtani had 26 hits this season in games he also pitched.
Luis Rengifo, Taylor Ward and Max Stassi hit a one-run homer for the Angels, who have won four in a row and five of six.
It was Oakland’s 100th loss of the season, marking its first triple-digit loss since 1979. Seth Brown had an RBI grounder, and Jonah Bride scored on a wild pitch in the ninth to avoid a suspension.
After winning the American League MVP award last season, Otani is again a leading contender this year — possibly the biggest challenger to New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who hit his 61st on Wednesday night The home run tied the AL record set by Roger Maris in 1961.
Ohtani has pitched 161 innings and is just one inning away from securing his place among the league leaders at the end of the season. Ohtani will likely play his final game of the season in Oakland in October. 5 He is like that.
On the mound, Otani’s 15 wins are tied for third in the AL, his 213 strikeouts are third and his 2.35 ERA is fourth. On the plate, he ranks fourth in the league with 34 homers and sixth with 94 RBIs.
The Angels immediately jumped on Cole Irving (9-13). The top four hitters arrived to give Los Angeles a 2-0 lead. Rengifo led the Angels’ bullpen in left field with a homer, then Trout opened the double to the midfield wall and scored on Ohtani’s bat.
Ward extended Los Angeles’ lead to 3-0 in the third quarter when he drove a dangling curveball from Irving off the wall at left center. Stassi then went right on Norge Ruiz’s first pitch to take the lead on the sixth.
Irving played four innings, allowing threes on nine hits and six strikeouts.
what might have happened
Ohtani is trying to get the Angels’ second no-hitter of the season. Los Angeles rookie Reid Detmers did it on May 10 against Tampa Bay.
There are two other no-hitters this season, four New York Mets five pitchers against Philadelphia on April 29, and three Houston Astros pitchers against the New York Yankees on June 25.
coach cream
Angels: RHP Archie Bradley (strained right forearm) and OF Mickey Moniak (bruised left hand) were placed on the injured list to end their seasons. … INF David Fletcher was activated after missing 10 games with a right hand injury.
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Athletics: Headed to Seattle for the weekend series. LHP Ken Waldichuk (1-2, 7.15 ERA) scored his first major league win in Oakland’s 10-4 win over the New York Mets last Saturday.
Angels: Host three games in Texas. Determers (6-6, 3.88 ERA) is 4-3 with 69 strikeouts in 12 starts since his July 8 recall from Triple-A Salt Lake City.
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