NEW YORK — Shohei Ohtani homered at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, 100 years to the day Babe Ruth hit the primary house run on the authentic ballpark within the Bronx.
Ohtani turned on a 88.7 mph sweeper from Clarke Schmidt and hit a 116.7 mph drive that landed within the Yankees bullpen in right-center, 391 ft from house plate. It was Ohtani’s fourth house run of the season and eighth in 18 video games towards the Yankees gave the Los Angeles Angels a 2-0 first-inning lead.
When the unique Yankee Stadium opened throughout 161st St. on April 18, 1923, Ruth capped a four-run third inning with a three-run homer off Boston’s Howard Ehmke in New York’s 4-1 win over the Red Sox.
Ohtani took a uncommon spherical of on-field batting follow earlier than the sport in almost empty Yankee Stadium, a extra trendy model that changed the outdated ballpark in 2009. He is baseball’s most well-known two-way participant since Ruth, and final 12 months turned the primary participant in main league historical past to qualify as each a batter and a pitcher in the identical season.
Before the sport, the Angels stated he’ll make his subsequent mound begin in Friday night time’s homestand opener towards the Kansas City Royals.
The two-way Japanese star threw simply two innings and 31 pitches in Monday’s begin at Boston earlier than his outing was reduce brief by an 85-minute rain delay.
“We kind of look at this as a lengthy bullpen,” Angels supervisor Phil Nevin stated Tuesday. “Just get him right back out there. And it makes sense if you line it up with some travel days.”
Ohtani is 2-0 with a 0.86 ERA in 4 begins, putting out 27 and strolling 13 in 21 innings. He entered a collection opener at Yankee Stadium with a .298 batting common and 9 RBIs.
Angels infielder David Fletcher was assigned outright to Salt Lake, eradicating him from the 40-man roster three days after he was optioned to the Triple-A farm staff.
“He’s a big part of what we’ve done and what we think we’re going to go in the future,” Nevin stated. “He’s just got to get out there and play, get back to what Fletch was. I realize that comes with consistent at-bats and I told him that. Part of that’s on me. He didn’t play a lot when he was here, and I’m the one that makes the lineup.”
Los Angeles introduced up 22-year-old Zach Neto final weekend. the primary participant to make the key leagues from final 12 months’s newbie draft, after Fletcher hit .125 (2 for 16) with one RBI with the Angels.
“He easily can get back in that mix, without a doubt,” Nevin stated. “It’s just going to take some time.”
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