The baseball soared high into the night sky, accompanied by Angels Shohei Ohtani bat, which somersaulted five times before resting somewhere between the batter’s box and the first-base dugout. The ball traveled a distance of 403 feet, reaching the straightaway center field at Angel Stadium.
This remarkable moment adds to the collection of memorable experiences in yet another impressive season for the Los Angeles Angels’ superstar, Ohtani.
Ohtani’s extraordinary achievements as both a pitcher and a hitter over the past 2½ years have been widely documented and celebrated. However, what is unclear is the unwavering pursuit of greatness, and the fervent desire to win that drives him. Moments like this, such as his epic bat flip following a game-tying home run in the seventh inning, his 35th of the season and leading the league, offer a glimpse into the intensity of his aspirations.
“Everything he does is calculated to be the best player in the world, for the purpose of winning,”
Phil Nevin
“Everything he does is calculated to be the best player in the world, for the purpose of winning,” Angels manager Phil Nevin said after his team’s 4-3 victory over the New York Yankees. “Everything else that comes along with that is great, but he wants to win, in the worst way. This has been frustrating for him in these last two weeks, as it’s been for everybody.
“But you can see it on him. He wants to win. He wants to win here.”
Ohtani keeps hitting home runs deep into late games
Ohtani’s home run in the seventh inning continued his impressive streak of going deep late in games, making it the third consecutive game in which he achieved this feat. His home run set the stage for Michael Stefanic, a lifelong fan of the Boston Red Sox, to deliver a walk-off hit in the 10th inning against Yankees left-handed pitcher Nick Ramirez.
Ohtani is on track to hit 60 home runs in his third full season as a two-way player. In Saturday’s game, he started a late-game comeback by homering against Houston Astros closer Ryan Pressly in the ninth inning.
The following night, Ohtani struck again with a ninth-inning home run, reducing his team’s deficit to one. Unfortunately, the Angels lost the game, surrendering two late leads to their division rivals. This defeat marked the Angels’ 11th loss in 13 games, a brutal stretch that has jeopardized their chances of making the postseason and potentially even led to speculation about trading Ohtani before the August 1 deadline.
Less than 24 hours later, Ohtani and Angels starter Griffin Canning, who threw 120 pitches, the most in baseball this season, played pivotal roles in securing a much-needed victory for the struggling Angels.
“After yesterday, you come out on the wrong end today of that one, it can knock you down pretty good,” said Nevin, his team still 5½ games out of the final wild-card spot with two weeks left before the trade deadline. “That one meant a lot, certainly.”
Despite the Yankees’ recent series loss and their position at the bottom of the American League East, they managed to take a 3-1 lead in the top of the seventh inning against the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim.
Despite their poor form Yankees managed to put up a fight against the Angels
In the bottom of the inning, with a runner on first and two outs, Ohtani stepped up to bat against right-hander Michael King. Surprisingly, Yankees manager Aaron Boone chose not to intentionally walk Ohtani.
“Maybe if he had gotten to second base and fallen behind in the count or something, but no, not there,” said Boone, whose team has lost back-to-back games in which it led by multiple runs in the seventh inning or later for the first time since 1992.
The Yankees went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and struck out 17 times. Aaron Judge was still out with a toe injury.
“I thought we did a lot of good things tonight,” Boone said, “but certain situations there you got to be able to make better adjustments.”
Ohtani’s home run tally of 35 surpasses his total from last season and ranks as the fifth-highest number of home runs by a player through a team’s first 95 games in this century. He is only behind Barry Bonds (42 in 2001), Luis Gonzalez (37 in 2001), Chris Davis (36 in 2013), and Judge (36 in 2022). Remarkably, Ohtani has hit 19 home runs in his last 31 games.
In Monday’s ninth inning, Ohtani had the opportunity to complete a cycle with just a triple, marking the seventh time this season that he had reached the three-quarter mark towards achieving a cycle. Although he ultimately struck out, Ohtani’s performance was enough to instill belief in the Angels, who were missing key players such as Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon, and gave them hope for another day.
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