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Shohei Ohtani’s franchise-record streak of most consecutive starts with two or fewer runs given up came to an end on Thursday in his start against the Oakland Athletics, surrendering five runs in six innings.

It was smooth sailing early for the 2021 AL MVP, who tossed three perfect innings and fanned five to open the game.

Everything changed in the fourth inning, when Ohtani hit the A’s leadoff man, walked the next hitter, then gave up a three-run homer to Brent Rooker. Ohtani proceeded to hit the next batter, and then gave up a two-run homer to Shea Langliers. He surrendered five runs without recording an out, a rare sight for Ohtani considering his hot start to the year.

Ohtani bounced back from the nightmare fourth inning by keeping the A’s hitless in the fifth and sixth innings. He finished the day with 93 pitches, eight strikeouts, three hits allowed, two walks, and three hit batters. His season ERA is now at 1.82, although opposing hitters are still only hitting .102 against him.

In the postgame interview, Ohtani said that he lost his rhythm and mechanics when he was throwing slide-step with runners on base. “I haven’t thrown in a slide-step much, so I kept trying to find the right balance and timing in my mechanics. It was a technical issue rather than a mental issue.”

Ohtani believes that the outing was a good experience and said that the pre-game bullpen session and the first three innings were the best he felt all year. “That fourth inning is regrettable, but it felt really good coming back in the fifth and sixth. I’ll use it as a learning experience,” Ohtani said.

Ohtani continues to struggle with his command, despite his excellent start to the year. He has walked 13% of hitters, hit six of them, and has thrown five wild pitches.

“He’s human,” said Angels manager Phil Nevin. “You could sense it in the whole stadium, like, ‘What’s wrong with him?’ But nothing was wrong with him. You have to throw it over the plate, and Major League hitters take swings, sometimes they hit them,” Nevin said.

The bigger Ohtani story on Thursday was that he nearly hit for his second career cycle. After hitting a single, a double and a triple in his previous at-bats, Ohtani stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the 8th inning with one out and runners on first and second. He jumped on the first pitch, an 86 mph slider, and drove it to deep center field, but the ball was caught at the warning track.

Ohtani’s next scheduled start is against the St. Louis Cardinals on May 4th, 1:15PM EST/10:15AM PST.

On Star Wars Night in Anaheim, Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani shined the brightest. The two-way phenom turned in another brilliant start against the Royals on Friday, tossing seven shutout innings and striking out a season-high 11, and leading the Angels to a 2-0 win. 

Ohtani’s season ERA improves to 0.64. He has struck out 32.9% of hitters and has held them to an impressive .093 batting average. 

Friday’s start was the 2021 AL MVP’s first-ever start on three days of rest, thanks to the shortened start on Monday against the Red Sox. It was not an issue for Ohtani, who opened the game by striking out the side. It was the first time this season that the Japanese right-hander did not walk the leadoff hitter. 

Ohtani said that he felt good despite the short rest. “I slept pretty well, and so I came in pretty fresh. I didn’t really have that [short rest] in mind,” Ohtani said. 

Ohtani struck out the last six hitters to wrap up his dominant outing. Hitters whiffed on 42% of their swings, for a total of 22 whiffs, and just three of Ohtani’s pitches were hit hard into fair territory. 

An interesting change in this particular start was the increased cutter and curveball usage. Ohtani threw his cutter 21 times, which is as much as he has thrown it on all of his other starts combined. He threw his curveball nine times, including one looping 68 mph pitch, and hitters whiffed on four of them. 

Ohtani felt like he mixed his pitches well. “It was a good balance [of pitch types], the third time around the order I was able to mix in the curveball well,” Ohtani said. “I felt that hitters were sitting on the breaking ball, but if I threw two different types they’d have a more difficult time.” 

Baseball Savant’s release point chart shows Ohtani’s consistent release point. All six pitches that Ohtani threw on Friday all come from a similar release point but have drastically different movements and speeds ranging from 68 mph to 100 mph, making it difficult for hitters to predict what pitch comes next. 

Angels manager Phil Nevin said that since Ohtani calls his own pitches, he studies hitters and understands when he can use a specific pitch. “From a hitter’s standpoint, I would have no idea what to prepare for,” Nevin said.

Today’s game was the first time Ohtani was caught by Chad Wallach after Logan O’Hoppe was placed on the 10-day injured list. Ohtani was thankful for Wallach. “He was great, he framed the balls on the corners well and got me strikes,” Ohtani said. Wallach also helped out Ohtani at the plate, hitting the go-ahead two-run homer in the bottom of the third.

Ohtani’s next scheduled start is on April 27th against the Athletics at 4:07 EST/1:07 PT.

Shohei Ohtani took the mound at the historic Fenway Park in Boston for his fourth start this season on Monday. Ohtani’s start was unfortunately cut short to two innings due to over two combined hours of rain delays.

The Angels’ ace, who entered the game with a 0.47 ERA, held Boston hitless but allowed a single run in the short outing. The combination of poor weather and delays initially seemed to play a role, as the Japanese right-hander’s early season control issues continued. Ohtani walked leadoff hitter Raimel Tapia, then threw two wild pitches that moved Tapia to third. Tapia then scored on a Rob Refsnyder groundout. Ohtani bounced back and struck out his Team Japan teammate Masataka Yoshida on an elevated 98.4 mph fastball, the hardest pitch he threw on the day.

During Ohtani’s warmup at the start of the 2nd inning, the Fenway Park grounds crew rushed onto the mound to pour quick dry dirt, leading to a short delay. The delay took about 10 minutes and was extended even further by a PitchCom issue. The delay did not faze Ohtani, who tossed a clean, efficient inning and struck out two.

During the top of the 3rd inning, the rain had reached a level where the tarp had to come out, causing an 85-minute delay. Angels skipper Phil Nevin knew that Ohtani would have to come off the mound during the second rain delay. “As much as I know he [Ohtani] keeps himself ready to go and pitch, it got past that 30-40 minute mark and I wasn’t going to send him back out,” Nevin said.

The preparation for this game was already challenging for Ohtani and the Halos even before the rain delays. The original start time on Monday was 11:10 AM EST for Patriots’ Day, which meant that it was an 8:10 AM start for Angels players. Because of the unique start time, the Angels rested core players including Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon. “That was the hardest part,” said Ohtani regarding the early start, through interpreter Ippei Mizuhara. “The bus left at 7:30, so I was up and moving by 6:45,” said Ohtani.

The game was Ohtani’s second start at Fenway Park. When asked about his experience, Ohtani said, “It’s one of my favorite parks, so I always look forward to pitching here, but the conditions didn’t allow me to have fun fully. Other than that I always look forward to pitching here.”

Ohtani’s first pitching appearance at the famed ballpark last May was one of the most dominant pitching performances in his big league career. He tossed seven shutout innings, struck out 11, got a career-high 29 swings-and-misses, and threw 81 of his 99 pitches for strikes.

Monday wasn’t the first time Ohtani has expressed his fondness for the ballpark. “That’s one of my favorite ballparks,” said Ohtani after the shutout performance last year. “I was looking forward to pitching here, and I felt like it left a really good impression on me.”

The Red Sox reportedly came close to signing Ohtani out of high school back in 2012, however, they were not on his final list of destinations when he was posted in 2017.

Ohtani is now at a 0.86 ERA, and his next turn in the rotation is supposed to be on Sunday, but today’s short outing might change the Angels’ plans. Angels beat writer Jeff Fletcher reported that Nevin said that “they will talk” about Ohtani’s upcoming pitching schedule.

UPDATE: The Angels have decided to move up Shohei Ohtani’s start from Sunday to Friday, according to Angels beat writer Jeff Fletcher. Ohtani will face the Kansas City Royals on Friday at home in Anaheim. Ohtani works on five days of rest, so his next projected start after Friday will be on April 27th against the Oakland Athletics, which is also at home. Based on Fletcher’s projected schedule, the move will allow Ohtani to face AL West rival Houston Astros and also squeezes an extra start out of him since his turns in the original schedule would have had him pitching on rest days.  

Following the success of Team Japan at the World Baseball Classic, manager Hideki Kuriyama has been making multiple TV appearances in recent weeks, one of them including the documentary sports show GET SPORTS. In the interview, Kuriyama revealed behind-the-scenes stories of Team Japan and their biggest star, Shohei Ohtani. 

Ohtani’s tournament MVP campaign showed Kuriyama and baseball fans around the world a new side of Ohtani. 

The Origin of Kuriyama and Ohtani’s Relationship
Ohtani and Kuriyama’s relationship dates back to before Ohtani entered the pros in Japan. “Since the first time I ever saw him in high school, I thought it was out of the question to have him choose between pitching or hitting,” said Kuriyama, in a 2021 interview. 

At the time, Ohtani faced pressure to choose to be a pitcher or a field player and also wanted to go to the big leagues straight out of high school. 

Kuriyama, then manager of the Nippon Ham Fighters, was at the heart of negotiations to convince Ohtani to sign with the team after drafting him in 2012. Kuriyama and the Fighters made the unprecedented pitch to Ohtani to provide him with the resources and opportunities to make the two-way play work. 

They were a successful pairing, with Ohtani earning individual accolades and breaking barriers in two-way play and the Fighters winning the Pacific League pennant and the Japan Series in 2016.

The Quarterfinal vs. Italy
Japan cruised to a 9-3 win against Italy in the WBC Quarterfinal, buoyed by Ohtani’s solid start on the mound. The game against Italy was filled with moments of surprise for Kuriyama. 

The first came in the 3rd inning, where with one out and a runner at first, Ohtani laid down a bunt and got on base. The bunt sparked the scuffling Japan offense and led to a 4-run inning. 

The unexpected move stunned the sold-out Tokyo Dome crowd and Kuriyama, who did not signal for Ohtani to bunt. 

“Well, it was typical of Shohei to do something so unexpected like that. But my honest reaction was what the hell was that bunt?” Kuriyama jokingly said. “It was terrible! He couldn’t have laid down a better bunt?”

On the pitching side, Ohtani came out in the middle of the 5th inning after giving up a 2-run double. Kuriyama is known for not going to the mound when making a pitching change, but this game was different. Pitching Coach Masato Yoshii urged Kuriyama to go up on the mound for the change.

“It was my first time going up to the mound to take him [Ohtani] off,” Kuriyama said. 

What truly shocked Kuriyama was that Ohtani apologized as he walked off the mound. “It was a moment of honesty from him. Those words hit heavy. It was the first time I ever heard an apology from him during a game . . . He’s always been the type to focus on what’s next and focus on what he can do to solve the issue before making an apology.’”

The Semifinal vs. Mexico

The WBC semifinal was arguably the most dramatic game of the tournament, with Japan coming back to win in the ninth inning 6-5 on a 2-run walk-off double from Munetaka Murakami.

Ohtani ignited the comeback down 5-4 in the ninth with a lead-off double. His helmet came flying off as he ran to second, and once he reached base he fiercely urged his team to follow up. Despite his many years of managing Ohtani, it was a side of Ohtani that Kuriyama had never seen before.  

“ If you watch it over, you can see that he’s choked up on the bat ever so slightly. In over a decade of knowing him and managing him, I’ve never seen Shohei play with so much emotion. . . Then it clicked for me. THIS is what he wanted to do. To do everything in his power to try to win in a do-or-die situation.”

Kuriyama also shared what led up to the moment.

“I heard about it after the fact, but apparently, he told the bench, ’I’m going to go get a hit and get on base.’”

This wasn’t the first time Ohtani called his shot. Back in 2016, Kuriyama started Ohtani as the lead-off hitter and the starting pitcher for the first time. It was the first time in 70 years that a pitcher hit lead-off in the NPB. Ohtani responded by hitting a leadoff homer.

 “He told us [the bench] that he was going to go and hit a home run and opened the game with a lead-off home run like it was no big deal,” Kuriyama said. 

The Final vs. Team USA

The WBC championship game was another instant classic. Ohtani took the mound in the ninth to close out the game for Team Japan, who held a 3-2 lead over Team USA. 

After walking Jeff McNeil, Ohtani got Mookie Betts to ground out into a double play. With two outs in the ninth inning of a one-run game, baseball fans got their dream matchup: Shohei Ohtani vs. Mike Trout. Ohtani struck out Trout on a nasty sweeper to win the game and delivered a third WBC title to his country. 

It wasn’t always a guarantee that Ohtani was going to pitch in the Final because of the congested tournament schedule, but the plan to close the game with Yu Darvish and Ohtani was always in the back of Kuriyama’s mind. 

“I always knew that we were going to have to face Team USA, in America, for us to win the championship. I wanted to use pitchers who have experience pitching in the US. Based on the [WBC] schedule, starting pitchers can only go once or twice. But I kept thinking of ways to let Shohei and Darvish pitch three times, and the only way to do that is starting twice in the early going and pitching in the final,” Kuriyama said.

Ohtani had not closed a game since 2016, in the clinching game of the Japan Series with the Nippon Ham Fighters. 

“Shohei is the type of player that the more homework you give him and the more you challenge him, his talent is maximized. After all this time together, there’s no doubt about that,” Kuriyama said.

Today, we posted a story about how New Balance Fresh Foam 3000 cleats violated regulations set by the Japanese High School Baseball Federation, and are therefore not allowed in Japan’s high school Koshien tournament.  While that is true, we wrote that the cleats were “marketed as a Shohei Ohtani product,” which is not correct.  We regret the error.