Shohei Ohtani has solid outing as Angels win in extras

The Angels avoided losing a heartbreaker on Friday night, as they defeated the D-Backs in extras, 6-5. LA was one strike away from winning in the ninth, but a homer from Eduardo Escobar tied it up.

Luckily the Halos were able to put a run on the board in the 10th and hold Arizona in the bottom half of the inning, leaving with the crucial victory. For the Angels, this is now their fourth consecutive victory and they’ve won six of their last seven games.

The Angels are now 31-32 on the season. They’re six games back in the division and five games back in the wild card. Remember when I told you last week to have hope? One week at a time. This team is getting hot at the right time.

The scoring got started in the third inning for the Angels. Kurt Suzuki led the inning off with a solo homer, his second of the season. They then put together a mini two-out rally. With nobody on and two out, Justin Upton walked and then would come in to score on a double from Shohei Ohtani. Anthony Rendon would then drive in Ohtani with a single to make it 3-0 Halos.

After back-to-back hits from the Angels in the sixth inning, Suzuki drove in a run to give the Angels the 4-2 edge. For the game, the catcher went 3-for-3 at the plate. As I mentioned earlier, with a one-run lead and a strike away from a victory, the D-Backs tied it up in the ninth.

Jose Iglesias struck out to begin the 10th. Taylor Ward and Suzuki were then hit by pitches back-to-back, loading the bases with only one out. Max Stassi grounded out, bringing in the go-ahead run.

Arizona was in a prime spot to do damage in the bottom half of the inning. David Peralta walked to begin the inning, putting the game-winning run at first base with zero outs. Steve Cishek settled down, getting consecutive outs to put the Angels an out away from the victory. Alex Claudio replaced him and proceeded to strike out Stephen Vogt to end the game.

For the night, it was a very solid night from Ohtani. He gave the Angels five innings and struck out eight with 14 whiffs. His only blemish on the mound came in the fifth inning when he allowed his two runs.

After allowing a walk and hitting a batter, Ohtani had runners on first and second with two outs. He issued back-to-back (questionable) balks, the first of his career. The second balk brought in a run. Ohtani then struck out Eduardo Escobar, but the ball got away from Suzuki and the second run of the inning came in to score. An annoying sequence, but luckily it was only two runs he gave up.

Ohtani now owns a 2.85 ERA on the season and has 68 strikeouts in 47 ¹⁄₃ innings of action.