Shohei Ohtani reached another milestone on Sunday during the Los Angeles Angels’ game against the Minnesota Twins.
According to Sports Illustrated, Ohtani became the second Angeles player to strike out 80 batters in their first 10 starts. The first player to do so was Nolan Ryan in 1978.
The Angels defeated the Twins 4-2. Ohtani struck out nine batters and allowed only one run over the six innings he pitched, MLB.com reports.
“It’s hard to control whether they hit a home run or not, but I just tried to make them feel uncomfortable and not take good swings,” Ohtani said through interpreter Ippei Mizuhara, according to MLB.com. “That was the game plan.”
Ohtani had a strong pitching performance during the game despite walking the leadoff hitter. Angels manager Phil Nevin joked that he knew Ohtani would have a good game after that moment.
“He walked the leadoff hitter in his first four outings and was unbelievable after that, and then he didn’t do it for a while, so when he did it today, I made a joke that he’s going to have a great one,” Nevin said, according to MLB.com. “It’s not that I like him walking the leadoff hitter, but it was a good one today.”
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