Shohei Ohtani’s Epic Night for the Angels, MVP Odds

Although the Angels legend didn’t have the most memorable pitching effort on the mound Monday night at the Baltimore Orioles, what he did at the plate has baseball fans buzzing. In addition to getting through seven innings, albeit while giving up some runs, as a hitter the Japanese sensation came up one double shy of the cycle.

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Shohei Ohtani’s MVP-Calibre Night

No one would argue that the Oshu native had the greatest night when throwing. Although he lasted seven innings, he coughed up four runs, including three home runs. Still, this is the person who pitches regularly and puts up fantastic numbers at the plate all season, something no Major League Baseball player has done in decades.

Things got interesting in the top of the fifth inning when Ohtani smashed a pitch deep into center field, just out of reach of the Terrin Vavra’s glove. It allowed the L.A. phenomenon to trot all the way to third base. By then he had already been walked by Baltimore starter Grayson Rodriguez, earned a single, and destroyed a three-run homer in the fourth inning.

All that was missing was a double. Unfortunately, it never came. Ohtani finished with four hits and a walk, but the performance made him the first pitcher to reach bases five times in a game since 1964, when New York Yankees Mel Slottlemyer performed the feat.

The icing on the cake was the Angels’ 9-5 win, which improved their record to 22-20. A nice pick-me-up after losing twice in a row to the Cleveland Guardians over the weekend. At the plate this season Ohtani sports a .303 average, 29 RBIs and nine home runs. As a pitcher, he’s 5-1 with a more than respectable 3.23 ERA. His 71 strikeouts lead the team by a country mile – Reid Detmers has 41. Numbers like that certainly explain why he’s in the conversation for American League MVP.