Electric Ohtani Shohei Ks 10 on MLB Opening Day but Angels fail to hang on
The World Baseball Classic MVP showed up by throwing six scoreless innings vs the Oakland Athletics, but Los Angeles unravels late to lose 2-1 as the 2023 Major League Baseball season opens.
Baseball Softball
Ohtani Shohei picked up right where he left off in the World Baseball Classic with a strong showing on the mound.
Unfortunately for Ohtani, the Los Angeles Angels also picked up where they left off last season - with another loss.
The 2023 Major League Baseball season got under way on Thursday (30 March) with Ohtani, the WBC MVP for champions Japan, striking out 10 over six shutout innings but the Angels collapsed in the eighth, falling 2-1 to the Oakland Athletics.
Nine days after wresting the WBC crown from USA, Ohtani started Opening Day for the second straight year. He left with the Angels up 1-0 after throwing 93 pitches and allowing two hits and three walks.
At the plate, he batted third and went 1-for-3.
Showing no signs of trouble with the pitch clock introduced this season, Ohtani gave the Angels every chance of winning their first game by putting the clamps on Oakland.
The Angels went ahead in the fifth, when rookie catcher Logan O’Hoppe drove in Gio Urshela with a single.
But two innings after Ohtani - who registered 162kph on the gun on this night - stepped down, the Athletics got to the visitors.
Lefty reliever Aaron Loup surrendered an RBI double to Tony Kemp, who then came home on a base hit by Aledmys Diaz to give Oakland the lead for good.
It was not the start of the campaign the Angels were hoping for. The team has not made the play-offs in eight years, tied with the Detroit Tigers for the longest drought in MLB.
By putting together a solid season, the Angles are hoping to re-sign Ohtani to an extension in the off-season when the 2021 American League MVP is set to become a free agent.
Ohtani, who will make a reported MLB record US$65 million in 2023, is widely expected to earn one of the biggest contracts in baseball history - some say north of US$500 million.