Ohtani delivers much-needed clutch hit for Angels

HOUSTON — With the Angels desperately needing an enormous hit to keep away from a four-game sweep towards the rival Astros, it was two-way celebrity Shohei Ohtani who got here to the rescue within the eighth inning.

Ohtani ripped a go-ahead RBI double off reliever Phil Maton to assist the Angels to a much-needed 2-1 win over the Astros within the collection finale on Sunday at Minute Maid Park. The Halos had dropped the earlier three video games within the collection and had been 1-5 towards Houston, however they now have some peace of thoughts due to a powerful pitching efficiency from right-hander Griffin Canning and Ohtani’s clutch hit.

The Angels had been in a position to salvage a 3-4 highway journey towards the White Sox and Astros, and supervisor Phil Nevin mentioned he believes the win might help bridge the hole between his membership and the Astros. Los Angeles is now 5 video games again of second-place Houston within the American League West.

“We’re close,” Nevin mentioned. “Those guys have been places we haven’t, and it’s where we want to go. That’s a good team over there. It’s nice to get a win on the way out of here.”

The Angels had been trying to find an enormous hit all collection, as they entered the sport hitting simply .176 (6-for-34) with runners in scoring place via the primary three video games. They had been additionally held to no hits via the primary 5 1/3 innings by Astros right-hander J.P. France till Luis Rengifo launched a solo homer with one out within the sixth.

But Ohtani got here via in an enormous method, and it got here with two outs. It nearly didn’t occur, nevertheless, as Ohtani thought he had walked on a 3-1 curveball on the outer half of the plate, however home-plate umpire Bruce Dreckman dominated it a strike. Ohtani got here again to the plate and made Maton pay for throwing a 3-2 curveball within the backside a part of the zone.

“I know it wasn’t a hit with runners in scoring position, but it was close,” Nevin mentioned jokingly. “But we were running on the pitch, so really, a hit to anywhere where the outfielder had to go to his side would score him. But just a really good at-bat, understanding what Maton is trying to do. He’s one of the toughest guys on left-handers in all of baseball.”

Zach Neto was operating on the pitch, and Ohtani hit it off the right-field wall, permitting Neto to simply rating the go-ahead run. It was one other spectacular displaying from Ohtani, who additionally went 4-for-5 on Saturday, falling only a homer wanting the cycle. But the Angels are going to provide him some further relaxation on the mound, pushing his begin again a day to Friday towards the Mariners to benefit from Monday’s off-day.

“His stuff is still pretty crisp,” Nevin mentioned. “Moreso as I start going through this, we’re looking at over 200 innings for the first time in his career. He’s approaching places he hasn’t been before. So I just felt like it was good to give him an extra day now.”

The late rally wouldn’t have been potential, nevertheless, with out Canning persevering with to show it round after struggling a bit early within the season in his return after lacking final yr with a stress fracture in his decrease again. Canning went six innings, permitting one run on 4 hits and one stroll with 4 strikeouts.

Canning didn’t issue into the choice, however he has posted a 2.59 ERA over his previous 4 begins to decrease his season ERA to 4.47 in 9 begins. The lone run he allowed got here on a solo homer from Yainer Diaz within the sixth on a first-pitch fastball a number of inches above the zone.

“After those three games, you want to put a stop to things,” Canning mentioned. “But I was just on a really good page with [Matt] Thaiss behind the plate. And we got some timely hitting, and the bullpen came in and shut it down.”

As Canning famous, the bullpen mixture of Chris Devenski (1 2/3 scoreless innings) and nearer Carlos Estévez (1 1/3 shutout frames) shut the door on the Astros to keep away from the dreaded four-game sweep.

“It feels really good,” mentioned Estévez, who picked up his 14th save in 14 alternatives. “We grinded through this game and we came on top, and everyone did what they had to do. It feels good to get a good team win like this. We wanted to show them we were good enough. Let’s clean it up and whatever happened the last few days, let’s turn the page and get going.”