*Photo from the Los Angeles Times*
With superstar Mike Trout out due to injury, the Los Angeles Angels need another superstar to do his heavy lifting. That man is Shohei Ohtani. Ohtani homered, Phil Gosselin hit the game winning homer, and the Angels defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 6-4 on Sunday afternoon.
Ohtani had himself a monster game for the Angels, hitting a homer, RBI double, and RBI triple against the Rays, needing just a single to have hit for the cycle. Ohtani's big performance comes right after he was announced as an all star finalist for the DH in the AL. Currently, Ohtani is the leading vote getter at DH, with JD Martinez in second, and Yordan Alvarez in 3rd.
Rays catcher Mike Zunino said of Ohtani that "He's special. There's no hiding his ability, his talent. Being able to see him three days in a row, hitting-wise is impressive, then knowing every fifth or sixth day he's on the mound throwing 100. An unbelievable talent. For the most part, to a certain point of that game, we did enough to keep him at bay. But he's just a guy that we have to pick our spots a little bit more or make better pitches against, just knowing he's the guy that can't beat us."
Ohtani came around to score on an RBI single by Gosselin in the 4th inning, giving the Angels a 1-0 lead to work with. In the 6th, Ohtani hit an RBI double to right field, giving the Angels a 2-0 lead. In the 7th, Juan Lagares hit an RBI double, and Ohtani hit an RBI triple, and it was tied 4-4. In the 8th, Gosselin hit a solo homer to make it 5-4 Angels, and Ohtani made it 6-4 with a solo homer in the 9th inning.
Angels manager Joe Maddon said of Ohtani that "He's pretty good. Beyond everything you're seeing, this guy really likes to compete. He really likes the moment. There's all this ubiquitous talent that he's got, but he loves to compete, and he plays the game. How about the stolen base today? How about hitting the right-field line? Then hitting the ball left-center oppo? He loves to play, that's what I get from this guy."
Tony Watson got the win in relief for the Angels, throwing a shutout 8th inning to get it. Patrick Sandoval gave the Angels 5 solid innings in his start, allowing 3 runs on 4 hits and two walks, while striking out 6 hitters. Raisel Iglesias picked up his 13th save of the season for the Angels with a shutout 9th inning. Mike Mayers also pitched 1 2/3 innings.
Brandon Lowe got the Rays started in the 5th inning, tying the game 1-1 with a solo homer to right field. In the 6th, Ji-Man Choi put the Rays ahead 4-2 with a 3 run homer to right field. That was all the Rays could manage against Angels pitching.
The bullpen faltered for the Rays against Ohtani and the Angels, with Ryan Thompson, Jeffrey Springs, Matt Wisler, and Pete Fairbanks combining to give up 4 runs in relief of starter Ryan Yarbrough. Yarbrough allowed two runs on 6 hits and one walk, recording 4 strikeouts in 6 innings pitched for the Rays.
Springs said of the bullpen struggles that "Anytime hitters give us a lead like that, we feel like we're going to shut it down. It doesn't matter who's in there, we've got a lot of trust in everybody that runs out there. It sucks. We got the lead, and we're expected to hold it. We take a lot of pride in that. We just didn't get it done today."
The Angels start a series with the New York Yankees on Monday, with Dylan Bundy getting the start in the series opening game. The Rays have a day off before starting a series with the Washington Nationals on Tuesday, with Rich Hill starting the opening game.
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