Shohei Ohtani overcame another bout of injury, pitching six scoreless innings and hitting his team-record 25th homer to reach another monumental milestone, as the Los Angeles Angels beat the Oakland Athletics 5-1 on Tuesday night.
The ambivalent Japanese ace joined Babe Ruth (1918) as the only two players in major league history with at least 10 homers and 10 wins in the same season. According to the Angels, two other Negro Leaguers did as well: Bullet Rogan of the 1922 Kansas City Monarchs and Ed Rile of the 1927 Detroit Stars.
Ohtani singled and scored on Taylor Ward’s three-run homer in the fifth, and knocked it out of the park in the seventh off Sam Selman.
On the mound, Ohtani (10-7) gave up four hits, struck out five and retired seven of the last eight batters he faced.
James Kaprielian (3-6) took the loss after allowing four runs, three earned, on six hits in five innings.
For the Angels, the Venezuelan Luis Rengifo 5-0, with a run scored. The Dominican Magneuris Sierra 1-0.
For the Athletics, Puerto Rican Vimael Machín 2-1. The Dominican Ramón Laureano 4-1. The Venezuelan Elvis Andrus 1-0.