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Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Shohei Ohtani delivers during the second inning of the tema's baseball game against the San Francisco Giants, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
baseball

Ohtani gets his 10th mound victory of season in Angels' 4-1 win over Giants

9 Comments
By GREG BEACHAM

Shohei Ohtani allowed one unearned run over six innings of three-hit ball, earning his 10th victory of the season after Mike Moustakas hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the Los Angeles Angels' 4-1 win over the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday night.

Ohtani (10-5) surpassed Babe Ruth in yet another measure of two-way excellence at the Big A, becoming the first player in major league history to have multiple seasons with both 10 victories and 10 homers.

Ohtani hasn't allowed an earned run in 19 innings over his last three starts, but the AL MVP frontrunner had to work hard against the Giants' tenacious lineup while issuing three walks and striking out five. Ohtani walked twice and struck out twice at the plate, scoring a run in the Angels' decisive four-run rally.

Luis Rengifo doubled and scored the tying run on Brandon Drury’s single before Moustakas hammered a no-doubt homer to right off rookie Tristan Beck (3-1), who took his first major league loss.

The 34-year-old Moustakas has become an Anaheim fan favorite and a clutch performer since coming home to his native Los Angeles area in a trade with Colorado, hitting seven homers with 23 RBIs in just 33 games for the Halos.

Moustakas had two hits for the Angels (58-58), who finished their homestand with back-to-back wins and got back to .500 after a seven-game skid imperiled their playoff chances.

Brandon Crawford drove in the only run for the Giants, who have lost four of five.

Carlos Estévez hung on to earn his 24th save when Moustakas made a slick fielding play on Thairo Estrada's hard-hit grounder to third. San Francisco had runners on the corners after Crawford singled off the wall and Blake Sabol reached on CJ Cron's throwing error.

The Angels' All-Star closer had blown his last two save opportunities in spectacular fashion after converting 23 consecutive chances to start the season.

Ohtani threw 13 consecutive scoreless innings in his last two starts, a one-hitter in Detroit followed by a homestand-opening appearance against Seattle that ended after only four innings because of hand cramping. Ohtani and the Angels both said he was fine to take his normal turn in the rotation again, and he quickly proved it.

But the Giants extended several early at-bats against Ohtani, and they went ahead with an unearned run in the second when Michael Conforto doubled, advanced on catcher Matt Thaiss' ill-conceived pickoff attempt and scored on Brandon Crawford's flyout. Ohtani threw 47 pitches in the first two innings before settling down.

Giants opener Ryan Walker got three strikeouts in the first inning. Sean Manaea took over and pitched four hitless innings with six strikeouts before Rengifo's leadoff double chased him in the sixth.

Wilmer Flores extended his on-base streak to a career-best 20 games when Ohtani hit him with a pitch in the sixth inning.

© Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

©2023 GPlusMedia Inc.


9 Comments
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The GOAT with the Golden Arm has done it again! Extraordinary, unprecedented talent.

Ohtani (10-5) surpassed Babe Ruth in yet another measure of two-way excellence at the Big A

Rewriting all of Ruth's records - game by game.

4 ( +8 / -4 )

Yawn

-10 ( +1 / -11 )

First, and likely to be only, member of the 40-10 club (homers-wins).

Almost a lock to win his second MVP now.

Very impressive.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Great game. He made history.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

He also walked twice to improve his league-leading total to 74. Considering that he leads the majors in home runs and is tied for the lead in triples (power and speed), his season 3.17 ERA along with 10 wins (which includes a complete game 1 hit shutout), this kid is doing pretty good. Pretty darn good. Oh, yeah. He is 4th in the majors with strike outs (as a pitcher.)

Anyone not following how he's doing is simply someone who doesn't know baseball. I look at the box scores everyday just to see how he did. There are just not words enough to describe how well he's playing.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

He is will be a real homer, watching the the World Series at home,the Astros this week will sweep Othani under the rug

-9 ( +0 / -9 )

Was watching that today. Smacking them out of the park too!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

When Estevez came in to pitch in the final inning, it got a little scary. Luckily everything worked out. Now if the Angels could just go on a winning streak and win a Wild Card position, but it looks like they'll have to win 2 out of every 3 games they play now until the end of the season to do it. Oh, well, maybe next year....

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The writing is on the wall, its a no brainer Ohtani will be joining the Dodgers he will get possibly a 11-year deal worth $550 million. He already lives in Los Angeles during the season, he doesn't have to pack up and move to another city he has to learn. Besides his girl friends live in Southern Cal. The Dodgers is a winning team and he is good friends with Mooky Betts I have seen them two out many times while out and about. Its no secret!!!

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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