*Photo from Reuters*
You can't watch baseball and not stay for the Sho. Mike Moustakas drove in a run, Shohei Ohtani homered twice, and the Los Angeles Angels defeated the Chicago White Sox with a 4-2 victory on Tuesday night in Anaheim.
The Angels have won the first two games of the series with the White Sox after losing a series to the Colorado Rockies. A big reason why was Ohtani, who, in addition to homering twice at the plate, struck out 10 hitters on the mound. He's the first AL player to reach those marks in the same game since 1963.
Angels manager Phil Nevin said that "It's a wow factor. We're seeing things every day that we've never seen before and you try not to take it for granted. And I don't think any of us do. I understand how special it is. But I also understand how special the person is to our room and what he brings to us every day."
Right away in the first inning, Ohtani hit a solo home run to put the Angels ahead by a 1-0 score. In the 4th inning, David Fletcher doubled the Angels lead, making it a 2-0 score with a groundout that scored Luis Rengifo. In the top of the 7th, Gavin Sheets got the White Sox on the board with an RBI single that plated Clint Frazier and made it 2-1.
When the bottom of the 7th came around, Ohtani hit his second home run of the night, making the lead 3-1 on another solo shot. Moustakas, recently acquired by the Angels, hit an RBI single to make the score 4-1. Andrew Vaughn hit an RBI single in the 9th that scored Eloy Jimenez and cut the deficit to 4-2.
Ohtani said of the win after the game that "I feel like we’re in a really good spot right now. We played a good game last night and tonight obviously. We need to stack up as many wins as possible going into the All-Star break."
In addition to his 10 strikeouts on the mound, Ohtani allowed one run on four hits and two walks over 6 1/3 innings. Jacob Webb finished the 7th inning before Chris Devenski pitched a scoreless 8th inning. Carlos Estevez got the save in the 9th despite allowing a run, his 20th save of the season.
Michael Kopech lasted 4 innings for the White Sox, allowing two runs on 4 hits and 7 walks in the loss. Touki Toussaint allowed two runs while pitching 2 1/3 innings. Gregory Santos finished the 7th inning before Reynaldo Lopez pitched a scoreless 8th inning.
Kopech said of his start that "I’ve got to get ahead of guys. Had an early middle-cut fastball get taken deep by a good hitter, and that’s going to happen. But if I get ahead of that guy, I don’t make that pitch. If I don’t throw that pitch, that swing doesn’t happen. Put myself in a lot of rough situations."
Up next, the series continues with game 3 on Wednesday night. Jaime Barria starts for the Angels as they look to clinch a series win, while the White Sox give the start to Lucas Giolito.
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