Shohei Ohtani struck out eight batters over six innings to earn the victory and added two hits, one run scored, and one RBI in a 4-3 win over the Twins on Wednesday.
Despite his usual heroics, Ohtani is on a bit of a cold streak on the mound – relative to his own greatness of course. This is now three consecutive starts where he’s allowed at least three earned runs after not doing so a single time before this stretch. Three runs, the horror. He also had some tense moments with catcher Dalton Rushing including a miscommunication regarding an ABS challenge and stern mound visit thereafter. Still, he forced 20 total swings-and-misses with 13 coming on his sweeper alone as his velocity was up about three ticks across the board. He threw 16 fastballs that reached 100 mph and topped out at 102. On top of that, he was in the middle of a Dodgers’ rally in the third inning with an RBI knock and came around to score shortly thereafter. He also had three hard-hit balls including a 111 mph lineout. Even in the games where it feels clunky he’s still so ridiculously impactful.
