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Shohei Ohtani once again reminded the baseball world that he’s one-of-a-kind with an electrifying two-way performance Tuesday night against the White Sox. 

The 2021 AL MVP went 3-for-3 with two homers and two RBIs, continuing his tear at the plate in June, while also pitching 6 ⅓ innings of one-run ball and striking out 10. The second homer came in the bottom of the seventh inning, despite a cracked fingernail that forced him to leave the mound. He now leads the Majors in both homers and runs batted in, with 28 homers and 64 RBIs.

“I do want to stay on schedule,” Ohtani said regarding his next start. “We don’t want to force it [the cracked fingernail] but for me, I always want to go out and pitch.”

According to Opta Stats, Ohtani is the first player since 1890 to reach base 4+ times, hit 2+ homers, and strike out 10 batters all in the same game. 

Ohtani now has a 3.02 ERA on the season, with a 33.2 K% and 10.2 BB%, holding hitters to a .180 batting average. 

It was a balanced game plan for Ohtani, who relied on a combination of his four-seam fastball, cutter, sweeper, and splitter. The splitter was particularly untouchable Wednesday night, as Ohtani was able to get five whiffs on six swings on the pitch. 

“I was able to stick to the game plan and execute it well, except for the end when the nail got worse,” Ohtani said. “I was able to put hitters away, and my only regret is that I couldn’t finish the inning.”

Ohtani’s excellent June on the mound and especially at the plate has vaulted the Angels into the Wild Card race with a 44-37 record. If their infield injury crisis does not catch up with them and Ohtani is able to maintain this torrid performance in the next few weeks, the Halos have a strong chance at securing their first playoff berth since 2014. 

“It definitely helps when the team is winning,” Ohtani said. “Winning improves our approach to the game and personally I feel like I do better. ”

It will be a pivotal July for the Angels franchise. Despite GM Perry Minasian’s comments last week, contending teams will certainly be monitoring Ohtani’s availability should the Angels hit a rough patch in the weeks leading up to the trade deadline on August 1.

In the meantime, Ohtani will get a chance to bring his ERA below 3.00 for the first time since May 27 in his next start, which barring any complications with the fingernail, will be against the Padres on July 4. 

Shohei Ohtani had his best start in two months Wednesday night against the Dodgers. The Japanese superstar went seven sharp innings and struck out 12 while allowing one run on five hits, including a solo shot to Freddie Freeman. 

Ohtani has been in a slump on the mound since recording a 0.64 ERA in his first five starts of the season, but he may be slowly finding his groove again. The 2021 AL MVP has now posted back-to-back solid outings against two strong offenses in the Rangers and the Dodgers. 

“If I can keep this up it’s obviously good, but doing it again is the difficult part,” Ohtani said. “I want to maintain the feel that I have right now for the next outing.”

On the season, Ohtani has a 3.13 ERA with a 32.3 K% and 10.3 BB% and is holding hitters to a .179 batting average in 89 innings pitched. 

Although he walked two batters, Ohtani’s sharp command particularly stood out Wednesday night, as he threw 77 of his 101 pitches for strikes and was consistently working ahead in counts. Unlike the last outing against the Rangers where he struggled to put hitters away and got just five whiffs, Ohtani recorded 20 whiffs against the Dodgers.

Ohtani cruised through the first three frames, fanning six and allowing just one hit on a weak grounder to first. His only mistake came in the fourth inning when Freeman turned on a hanging 85 mph cutter. 

“I wanted to throw it a little lower,” Ohtani said. “I was trying to get a swing and miss on a ball but I left it up, and you can’t do that against a good hitter. That was a mistake on my part.”

Ohtani barely faced trouble on the rest of the outing, never allowing a runner to reach third base despite giving up a few hits and walks. 

It was a four-seam and cutter-heavy gameplan for Ohtani, who threw the two pitches 79% of the time (50% four-seam, 29% cutter). 

The Dodgers are one of the heavily rumored suitors for Ohtani this offseason, and he was asked about his thoughts on the team after the game. 

“I’m grateful to all the teams that made the effort to sign me when I decided to come here,” Ohtani said. “But it doesn’t matter who I’m playing, and I’m focused on the season.”  

Ohtani’s next projected start is at home against the White Sox on Wednesday, June 28 at 9:38 PM ET/6:38PM PT.

Shohei Ohtani turned in a strong two-way performance on Thursday night to help the Angels clinch a series win against the AL West-leading Rangers at Globe Life Field. The Japanese phenom took the mound for the third time in June and tossed six innings, allowing two runs on six hits and one walk while fanning three in the Halos’ 5-3 win.

It was easily the best start of the month for Ohtani, who had a combined 5.73 ERA in his prior June outings. Ohtani now has a 3.29 ERA on the season in 14 starts and 82 innings pitched and has struck out 31.7% of hitters while walking 10.6% and holding hitters to a .178 average.

At the plate, the hottest hitter on the planet continued his torrid streak, hitting his fourth homer of this series in the eighth inning to extend the lead for the Halos. The 443-foot blast was Ohtani’s 22nd of the season, which ties him for the lead with Pete Alonso for most homers in the big leagues, and the third 440-foot+ opposite-field homer of the series.

It was not the prettiest of outings on the mound for Ohtani, who at times struggled with command and gave up a lot of solid contact against one of the league’s best offenses, but he got the job done and limited the Rangers to minimal damage. 

He got into an early jam after issuing another leadoff walk to open the game and giving up a bloop single to Adolis Garcia on a jammed shot after a 10-pitch at-bat. Ohtani was able to escape the inning after getting the next hitter, Jonah Heim, to pop out, but he finished the inning with 30 pitches thrown. 

After getting through the second inning without trouble, Ohtani gave up three consecutive hits in the third and allowed two runs to score, including an RBI double to Garcia and an RBI single to Heim. 

Ohtani was able to get through the rest of the start with no trouble, finishing the sixth inning on 99 pitches, an impressive feat considering the 30 pitches thrown in the first. 

It was a four-seam-heavy approach for Ohtani, who threw the pitch 47% of the time. It was intriguing to see that he did not throw the splitter at all, as he struggled to put hitters away on two-strike counts. Angels beat reporter Jeff Fletcher reported that Ohtani’s splitter has been getting misregistered as a two-seamer at times, but that does not seem to be the case for Thursday night’s outing, where he only stuck to his four-seamer, cutter, sweeper, and curveball. The lack of splitter usage could have been a pre-determined gameplan decision, or Ohtani deciding to pivot to a more efficient, pitch-to-contact style after the 30-pitch first inning.

“Obviously, this is a huge series win against a first-place team,” Ohtani said. “All the boys are fired up because we came out on top. So we hope the momentum will continue into the next series.”

The surging Angels are now just one game behind in the Wild Card race with a 39-32 record, winning nine of their last 11. Despite the series win against a division rival, the Angels’ depth will be tested in the coming weeks with a dire injury situation in the infield. The somewhat good news is that they will be facing below .500 teams in 10 of their next 12 games. 

Ohtani’s next scheduled start is against the Rockies at Coors Field on June 23 at 8:40 PM EST/ 5:40 PM PT.

For the second time this season and the seventh time in his career, Shohei Ohtani homered in the same game that he pitched in en route to a 5-4 Angels win Friday night.

It was a forgettable start for the 2021 AL MVP, who struggled mightily with his control. He issued three hits, five walks, and hit a batter, while striking out six in his five innings of work. Ohtani now has a 3.23 ERA in 13 starts this year. For reference, in his MVP campaign, Ohtani finished with a 3.18 ERA in 23 starts.

Friday night’s struggles came as somewhat of a surprise, as the two-way star pitched on an extra day of rest for the first time this season. He opened the game with a walk, marking the sixth time out of 13 starts he’s done so.

Although he retired the following two hitters, he was consistently working behind in the count. In the second pitch of the at-bat against Jarred Kelenic, Ohtani hung a sweeper and surrendered a two-run homer. It was the seventh homer off of a sweeper, which is one more than all of last season.

Despite the homer to Kelenic, Ohtani was able to erase his early mistake in the way that only he can, with his bat. Ohtani hit a two-run 440 foot blast to deep right field in the third inning, quickly wiping out the 2-0 deficit.

Ohtani got through the second through the fourth inning unscathed, before running into some trouble in the fifth inning. After walking the leadoff hitter and hitting another batter, he gave up an RBI-single to Ty France. He escaped the jam with minimal damage after getting Kelenic to ground out in a double play.

“I didn’t feel really good overall today,” said Ohtani. “Even more than my command, it’s the way I’m moving my body. I feel like I’m being less efficient moving my body.”

Ohtani at the plate was a different story. He finished the day with three hits and was one hit shy of the cycle when pitching for the third time this season. It was also his fourth three-hit game while serving as the starting pitcher.

“I’m feeling really good at the plate right now and more than that, I’m just happy the team won,” said a relieved Ohtani.

Ohtani’s next projected start is on June 15 against the AL West-leading Rangers at Globe Life Field. It should be a fun pitching matchup for Ohtani, who will be facing May’s AL Pitcher of the Month Nathan Eovaldi.