ANAHEIM ― Somewhere in Shohei Ohtani’s oversized toolkit – behind the bat speed, under the spin rate, between the baserunning and the drop on his splitter – lies his stamina. This was his greatest weapon on the mound Saturday night at Angel Stadium.
Ohtani threw eight innings against the Houston Astros and allowed only one run. He threw 111 pitches, a season high. On a night when both teams were challenged for a hit, Ohtani had to wait for the dramatic conclusion.
Nine innings were not enough to resolve the pitcher’s duel between Astros starter Luis Garcia and Ohtani. Tied 1-1 in the 12th inning, Matt Duffy dumped a single into center field to drive in the winning run, lifting the Angels to a 2-1 victory over Houston.
The win was the Angels’ sixth in their last eight games.
After both sides failed to score in the 10th and 11th inning, the Angels finally took advantage of their free baserunner in the 12th. Max Stassi drew a two-out walk ahead of Duffy, who worked a full count against reliever Seth Martinez (0-2). The ball bounced just in front of the glove of diving center fielder Mauricio Dubon – a call that was upheld upon video review.
Ryan Tepera (3-2) pitched a scoreless 12th inning to earn the win.
Ohtani did not allow a hit – or a baserunner – until Yuli Gurriel punched a single into right field in the fourth inning. He allowed six hits, including four singles and two doubles. He did not walk a batter and struck out eight.
What Ohtani lacked in swing-and-miss stuff, he made up for by throwing strikes – only 30 of his 111 pitches went for balls. His ERA fell to 2.58, fifth in the American League.
The Astros scored the game’s first run in the fifth inning.
Facing Trey Mancini with two outs, Ohtani tried burying a hard slider away with his first pitch. It caught the edge of the plate, and Mancini smoked a line drive to center field for a double. The next batter, J.J. Matijevic, took advantage of a hanging curveball to poke an RBI single into center field. Mancini scored, giving Houston a 1-0 lead.
Garcia did not allow a run until the seventh inning. Luis Rengifo began the inning by hitting a soft flare into right field for a single. Taylor Ward walked. Mike Ford hit a fly ball to center field deep enough for both runners to tag up and advance a base, giving the Angels two runners in scoring position with one out.
Aguilar, a Yorba Linda native getting his second-ever start at Angel Stadium, squared up the first pitch he saw from Garcia, a changeup down the middle of the plate, and hit it 348 feet to right field. That was deep enough for Rengifo to tag up and score with relative ease. The game was tied 1-1 on Aguilar’s first career RBI.
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No longer in line for the loss, Ohtani came back out for the eighth inning with 92 pitches on his ledger. The Astros made him work for the final three outs.
Jose Altuve queued up a one-out double through the right side of the infield. Alex Bregman, a former MVP runner-up, fouled off a 99-mph fastball, then a cutter. Ohtani shook off catcher Max Stassi, who visited the mound. They settled on a slider off the plate – Ohtani’s 59th slider of the game – and Bregman flew out to end the inning.
Jose Quijada relieved Ohtani in the ninth inning and retired all five batters he faced. Jimmy Herget finished off the 10th inning without allowing a run.