The Angels' Japanese phenom achieves a unique feat in baseball history by stringing together games of 8 RBIs on offence and 13 strikeouts as a pitcher in wins against Kansas City.
Ohtani, who retired 23 of the last 24 batters he faced, became the first player in significant league history to have at least eight RBIs in a game and strike out ten or more batters the next day. Tony Cloninger of the Atlanta Braves is the only other player with a 10-strikeout game as a pitcher and an eight-RBI game as a hitter in his career, but they were not consecutive. Cloninger never struck out 13 batters.
The Japanese e, who won the AL MVP award unanimously last season, put on a show the same night the Angels celebrated the 20th anniversary of their 2002 World Series title. He topped his previous high for strikeouts. He went 3-1 and now has a .260/.336/—487 batting line, with 15 home runs and 45 RBIs in 69 games.
Of course, Shohei admired his 2nd home run of the night!
"I think the biggest thing was putting that zero in the first inning after giving up those two hits; I think it sets the tone for the game," Ohtani said through an interpreter in the Angels ' clubhouse. "They told me the game was going to start at 6:49, so I had to pitch in the cage to get ready, but I think it was a good learning experience because things come up sometimes."
His fastball hit 99.9 mph in the seventh inning -- and he had total command of his pitches. In his sixth win of the season, he recorded 14 swing misses, including seven with his slider, four with his splitter, two with his fastball and one with his cutter. He also located the slider and curveball well, as he got 19 called strikes with his slider and eight with his curveball. "When I saw him at 99 in the seventh, I knew he wasn't exhausted at all," Angels manager Phil Nevin said. "He wanted the eighth, and he earns
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