After losing the home run lead to Matt Olson (Atlanta Braves)카지노, Shohei Ohtani (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) is starting to hit again.
Ohtani started in the No. 2 spot in the lineup and went 1-for-3 with a home run, one RBI and one walk in the Angels’ 2023 Major League Baseball (MLB) opener against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas, USA, on 14 April.
Ohtani’s batting average remained unchanged from the previous day at .305, but it was a welcome return to form after an eight-game silence since his last at-bat against the Seattle Mariners on April 4.
After retiring his first two at-bats on a grounder and a strikeout, Ohtani took a two-pitch slider from Houston’s Parker Mucinski with two outs in the top of the sixth inning for a solo arch over the centre field fence. It was Ohtani’s 41st home run of the season. The bat speed was measured at 110.2 miles per hour (177 km/h) with a distance of 448 feet (137 metres). The launch angle was 28 degrees.
Ohtani’s home run pace seemed to book him early on, especially in June, when he blasted 15 homers and was on pace to break the American League single-season record of 62 set by Aaron Judge (New York Yankees) last year.
However, Ohtani cooled off in August, hitting just one home run in 11 games through the 13th. He skipped one of his scheduled starts this week to take a breather. In the meantime, Olson, who had been chasing the coveted home run lead, picked up the pace, and the two players swapped places with back-to-back home runs in the first game of a doubleheader against the New York Mets on the 13th.
Notably, Olson remained the home run leader on the 14th, hitting his 43rd of the season, and maintained a two-run lead over Ohtani. With Ohtani back in the swing of things, the race for the home run title is likely to get even tighter.
Meanwhile, the Angels avenged their loss the day before with a 2-1 victory over Houston behind Ohtani’s solo shot. Chase Cilses picked up his fourth win of the season with five innings of four-hit ball, two walks and five strikeouts, while the bullpen followed with one inning each of Jose Soriano, Reynaldo Lopez, Matt Moore and Carlos Estevez.