HOUSTON — Shohei Ohtani’s night started much better than it ended.
Although he hit his major league-leading 44th home run in the first inning, Ohtani was knocked out of the game in the fourth inning and charged with six runs in the Angels’ 10-5 loss to the Houston Astros on Friday night.
Ohtani (9-2) failed in his first attempt at becoming the Angels’ first 10-game winner since 2018, and he saw his eight-game winning streak snapped.
Ohtani gave up a career-high nine hits and he struck out just one. It was the first time in his career he pitched at least three innings without multiple strikeouts.
“He just didn’t have his best stuff,” Manager Joe Maddon said. “There was no swing and miss tonight as you saw. I thought he battled, but in my mind’s eye, there was no reason to push it. When he’s not having his day I don’t want to extend him.”
Maddon had extended Ohtani to a career-high 117 pitches in his last outing. He said he didn’t think that had an impact on Ohtani in this start, but Ohtani admitted he was still feeling some effects of that game.
“I would say there’s a little bit of soreness left from my last outing,” Ohtani said through his interpreter. “I only have a couple weeks left in the season, so I’m focused on finishing strong and healthy.”
In the first inning, Ohtani worked around two hits. He got a double play to help him escape the second without allowing a run.
In the third, though, he gave up four more hits. Alex Bregman and Carlos Correa each punched singles up the middle to drive in runs, and Yordan Alvarez drilled a ball off the fence in right-center.
The Angels got those runs back and actually handed Ohtani a 4-3 lead when he took the mound in the fourth, but he couldn’t get through another inning.
Three of the first four batters of the fourth inning reached base, scoring a run to tie the game and knocking out Ohtani after 77 pitches.
“I just think he faced a team that is pretty good at the plate,” Maddon said. “You have to get them out in the zone. They don’t chase.”
Still, the game was tied when Ohtani walked off the mound. It got away under the watch of Andrew Wantz, who had been reliable through his first 13 big league outings.
Wantz got the second out, but then gave up a double to Bregman, one of his three hits.
“If we could have gotten Bregman, that game has a different tone,” Maddon said.
Wantz then issued a walk and a single to push home two more runs. Kyle Tucker then reached on a catcher’s interference with the bases loaded, driving in another run. Maddon said that was because of the way Tucker swings, not a mistake by catcher Kurt Suzuki. Aledmys Diaz then singled to drive in two more, giving the Astros a 9-4 lead.
Jo Adell continued to be a bright spot for the Angels. He launched a triple off the fence in right-center, and he circled the bases when the throw hit him as he slid into third and bounced away.
Maddon, as he often does, looked for the bright spots like Adell and the performances of the relievers after Wantz. Relievers Oliver Ortega, Jimmy Herget, Jake Petricka and Kyle Tyler allowed just one run over the final four innings.
“We did a lot of things well,” Maddon said. “They just got us.”
Pitchers who rake! That's 44. pic.twitter.com/IkxBXs0ARp
— MLB (@MLB) September 11, 2021
