Longest dwelling run of Ohtani’s profession not sufficient as Diamondbacks defeat Angels 6-2

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) – Shohei Ohtani added one other spotlight to his wonderful June with the longest dwelling run of his main league profession, turning into the ninth participant to achieve 30 homers in a season by July 1.

It was solely a solo shot, although, and never sufficient for the Los Angeles Angels to beat a grand slam by Arizona’s Lourdes Gurriel Jr.

Gurriel’s second-inning drive into the Angels’ bullpen in left area was the decisive blow within the Diamondbacks’ 6-2 victory Friday night time.

Ohtani drove a slider from left-hander Tommy Henry 493 toes to proper area within the sixth inning to get the Angels inside 5-1. It was the longest dwelling run within the majors this 12 months.

“It was loud. I’ll leave it at that. I didn’t watch it. I don’t really like to watch home runs. It didn’t feel good leaving the hands,” mentioned Henry, who struck out a career-high eight and allowed just one run on 4 hits in 5 2/3 innings.

The two-way famous person from Japan turned the primary participant since Baltimore’s Chris Davis in 2013 to hit 30 homers by the top of June. Davis had 31.

Babe Ruth, Ken Griffey Jr. and Sammy Sosa every did it twice. The others are Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Luis Gonzalez and Albert Pujols. Bonds had 39 by July 1 in 2001 en path to setting the single-season file with 73.

“I hear of all these 500-(foot) shots that guys had in the past. I know the calculations before and now are a little different but I don’t think there’s going to be a ball hit further than that one,” Angels supervisor Phil Nevin mentioned. “Awesome. I mean, he had a great night with two walks and the home run. That kind of gives you some energy and we got some runners on after that. We just couldn’t get a big hit.”

Ohtani hit 15 dwelling runs in June. Besides being an Angels file for probably the most in any month, he tied Babe Ruth (1930 Yankees), Bob Johnson (1934 A’s) and Roger Maris (1961 Yankees) for the AL mark in June.

“Falling behind 1-0 to a guy like that, I tried to get back in the zone. Throwing a slider over the middle of the plate is not in the game plan,” Henry mentioned after bettering his file to 5-1. “Thankfully, for the offense, it was a four-run game at that point, let the water roll off the back and get right back to it.”

Gurriel hit his sixth profession slam when he drove a full-count slider from Griffin Canning (6-3) into the Angels’ bullpen in left area. Gurriel cleared the bases after Canning issued walks to Jake McCarthy, Geraldo Perdomo and Ketel Marte – all with two outs.

“I was patient,” Gurriel mentioned by means of an interpreter. “I didn’t see enough quality pitches before the at-bat, so I just waited for my pitch.”

Gurriel additionally scored Arizona’s first run within the first inning when Evan Longoria lined a base hit to left area.

Canning went six innings and gave up 5 runs on three hits. He struck out 9, however the 4 walks proved pricey.

“My college coach called it a bloody-nose pitcher. You kind of get punched in the face and then you’re ready to go out and compete. So that was a little bit of what tonight was,” Canning mentioned about rebounding after struggling early.

GOING THE DISTANCE

Ohtani’s three longest homers have come at Angel Stadium. His earlier greatest was a 470-foot drive off Kansas City’s Kris Bubic in 2021. It was additionally Ohtani’s fifth lengthy ball this week.

WEB GEM

McCarthy made a sliding catch halfway down the road in proper area to rob Eduardo Escobar of a success to finish the fourth inning.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Diamondbacks: OF Corbin Carroll (proper shoulder soreness) was out of the lineup, however might return Saturday night time. … RHP Merrill Kelly (proper calf irritation) performed catch at 120 toes and will throw a bullpen Saturday.

Angels: 3B Anthony Rendon was activated off the injured record after lacking 9 video games on account of a bruised left wrist. INF Andrew Velazquez was optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake to make room.

UP NEXT

Diamondbacks: RHP Ryne Nelson (4-4, 4.97 ERA) tied a profession excessive with seven innings in his final begin on June 25 in opposition to the Giants, when he allowed one run on three hits.

Angels: LHP Tyler Anderson (4-2, 5.54 ERA) has six wins in opposition to Arizona, which is tied for his most in opposition to any opponent.

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