Phenomenon Shohei Ohtani went no-hitter into the eighth inning and extended his one-hit streak to 14 games to lead the Los Angeles Angels to a 4-2 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Thursday night.
In his final home start of the season, Ohtani (15-8) walked Tony Kemp to start the game and then retired the next 22 foes in order. Conner Capel broke his no-hitter with a strong grounder that Venezuelan shortstop Liván Soto couldn’t contain with two outs in the eighth inning.
Dermis Garcia followed with a clean single to left before Ohtani grounded out Shea Langeliers to third to shut down the threat.
The right-hander gave up two hits and struck out 10 in eight shutout innings, matching his longest start of the season.
The Japanese and reigning American League MVP reached 14 consecutive games with at least one hit by firing an RBI single in the first inning. It is the longest active streak in the Major Leagues. Ohtani has 26 hits in games in which he has been on the mound.
Luis Rengifo, Taylor Ward and Max Stassi hit solo homers for the Angels, who have won four in a row and five in their last six meetings.
Oakland reached 100 losses in a season for the first time since 1979. Seth Brown had an RBI single and Jonah Bride scored on a wild pitch in the ninth to avoid a shutout.
Cole Irvin (9-13) carried the backhand in four innings in which he allowed three runs and nine hits with six strikeouts and a walk.
For the Angels, the Venezuelans Rengifo 5-2 with one produced and one scored; Soto 4-2.
For the Athletics, Dominican Dermis GarcÃa 3-1. Puerto Rican Vimael MachÃn 3-0. Colombian Jordan Diaz 3-0.