OC Register: Mike Trout hits 2 home runs, Shohei Ohtani shines on mound in Angels’ win

[AngelsWin.com]

SEATTLE — Just like they drew it up.

The Angels’ superstar duo of Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani carried the team to a badly needed 4-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Thursday night.

Trout drove in all of the Angels’ runs with a pair of two-run homers and Ohtani pitched six scoreless innings, helping the Angels to just their third victory in their last 21 games. It was their first victory on the road since May 15, the day they went a season-high 11 games over .500. They’re now 30-35.

After homering in the third and seventh innings, Trout has blasted 49 career homers against the Mariners, his most against any opponent. He’s hit 30 of them in just 85 career games in Seattle.

It was Trout’s second multi-homer game in the five games he’s played since returning from a three-game absence because of groin tightness.

Ohtani has rebounded well from back-to-back rough starts against the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees. Since allowing nine runs in those two games, Ohtani has allowed just one run in 13 innings in his last two starts, against the Boston Red Sox and Mariners.

Ohtani has worked his ERA for the season down to 3.28, which is right in line with his 3.18 mark during his MVP season in 2021.

On Thursday night he battled through a long first inning, in part because he didn’t get a few borderline calls. After finishing the inning with his 23rd pitch, Ohtani stopped and had what appeared to be an amicable chat – no interpreter – with plate ump David Arrieta.

After that, Ohtani had little trouble.

He gave up just two singles and a walk over the next five innings, keeping the Mariners from even getting a runner into scoring position.

Ohtani also benefitted from some nice defense behind him.

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Left fielder Brandon Marsh made a diving catch to end the fifth, and then third baseman Matt Duffy charged a slow hopper and fired quickly to first to get the first out of the sixth inning.

Ohtani finished the sixth with a strikeout of Cal Raleigh on a 99.2 mph fastball, punctuating the whiff with a yell.

That was Ohtani’s 93rd and final pitch, which left nine outs for the bullpen. Left-hander Aaron Loup pitched an inning, his first perfect outing since May 13. Right-hander Ryan Tepera gave up a run in the eighth, but he escaped with the three-run lead intact.

Closer Raisel Iglesias then worked the ninth to pick up the save, just his second of the month.

More to come on this story.

View the full article

[Jason]

I like it better when Trout plays like this and not that 0-26 nonsense 

[failos]

I’m curious how this game would’ve turned out if Trout didn’t play. Ohtani’s pitching performance was just as important as Trout’s HRs in my opinion—but the team itself is still having trouble producing runs. Last night’s game was promising, but I’d like to see less players left on base and less strikeouts.

Trout isn’t going to hit 2-HRs every game (though he’s been doing that a lot lately).

[Angel Oracle]

Right now, the top four in the order is pretty much the Halos offense.

Marsh, aside from the two HR game, has been in a slide, .519 June OPS so far.

Rendon can’t stay healthy.

Stassi has struggled, .619 June OPS so far.

The MIF can’t hit.

It’s hard to win enough games when only four players are hitting.

 

Edited June 17, 2022 by Angel Oracle

[failos]

Just now, Angel Oracle said:

Right now, the top four in the order is pretty much the Halos offense.

Marsh, aside from the two HR game, has been in a slide.

Rendon can’t stay healthy.

Stassi has struggled.

The MIF can’t hit.

 

Marsh seemed to look better at leadoff. I think he belongs there, but his base running has been a liability. The defensive miscues on the team really hurt, too.

Not sure what’s going on with Stassi, but he’s been really awful. Probably nothing to worry about long term, but it’s odd.

We all knew the MIF would be a problem this season, but Minasian didn’t address it in any meaningful way. I’m glad they didn’t sign Trevor Story, but I’m starting to wish we still had Jose Iglesias.

[Jason]

17 minutes ago, failos said:

I’m curious how this game would’ve turned out if Trout didn’t play. Ohtani’s pitching performance was just as important as Trout’s HRs in my opinion—but the team itself is still having trouble producing runs. Last night’s game was promising, but I’d like to see less players left on base and less strikeouts.

Trout isn’t going to hit 2-HRs every game (though he’s been doing that a lot lately).

If Trout doesn’t come through like this then they aren’t going to win much. The line up has a lot of duds in it and yes, Marsh is included in that. The Ks are just what this team does. They’ve done it since the start of the season and are averaging over 9 a game. They just don’t have the clutch hitters to knock in base runners 

Edited June 17, 2022 by Jason

[CaliAngel]

1 minute ago, failos said:

Marsh seemed to look better at leadoff. I think he belongs there, but his base running has been a liability. The defensive miscues on the team really hurt, too.

Not sure what’s going on with Stassi, but he’s been really awful. Probably nothing to worry about long term, but it’s odd.

We all knew the MIF would be a problem this season, but Minasian didn’t address it in any meaningful way. I’m glad they didn’t sign Trevor Story, but I’m starting to wish we still had Jose Iglesias.

What throws me off is Marsh LOOKS like he can hit, Stassi LOOKS like he can hit. 

I've kinda thrown the towel in on Velazquez, Rengifo and Legares but it's painful to see Marsh and Stassi struggling. 

It's like they're up there guessing and guessing wrong, their approach is off. I also see them watching way too many strikes right down the pipe, usually early in the count. Then they fall behind and they're screwed. I feel like they need to go up there not thinking about the count and just waiting for their pitch to hit, even if it is the first one of the at bat. 

[Jason]

1 minute ago, CaliAngel said:

What throws me off is Marsh LOOKS like he can hit, Stassi LOOKS like he can hit. 

I've kinda thrown the towel in on Velazquez, Rengifo and Legares but it's painful to see Marsh and Stassi struggling. 

It's like they're up there guessing and guessing wrong, their approach is off. I also see them watching way too many strikes right down the pipe, usually early in the count. Then they fall behind and they're screwed. I feel like they need to go up there not thinking about the count and just waiting for their pitch to hit, even if it is the first one of the at bat. 

Marsh and Stassi seem to have issue with pitch recognition as they are striking out a ton. Marsh will improve that with experience so I’m not overly concerned. Stassi is who he is though. 

[Angel Oracle]

Stassi though did have a .780 OPS in 2020/2021.   He’s better than his current .697 OPS.

Edited June 17, 2022 by Angel Oracle

[Dtwncbad]

If you want to be optimistic, then you can be glad to see the two superstars basically carried the team on their backs to a win and hopefully it will drag this team forward to better days.  Somebody needs to step up and I would expect them to be those guys.

If you want to be pessimistic, you view this game as evidence that the team can’t win without the two beasts having those kinds of games.

For me, this is definitely one of the hardest years I can remember in terms of being frustrated with the team’s performance.

 

[AngelsLakersFan]

17 minutes ago, Dtwncbad said:

If you want to be pessimistic, you view this game as evidence that the team can’t win without the two beasts having those kinds of games.

 

That seems to be objective reality right now…

[DCAngelsFan]

We always knew Ward would come back to earth, but ever since his injury, he's been pretty bad - an OPS of .547 since May 26th - we're 3-18 in that span.

 

[tdawg87]

What did Seattle ever do to Mike Trout lmao

[Angels 1961]

7 minutes ago, DCAngelsFan said:

We always knew Ward would come back to earth, but ever since his injury, he's been pretty bad - an OPS of .547 since May 26th - we're 3-18 in that span.

 

His timing was off he will be fine

[Torridd]

1 hour ago, failos said:

I’m curious how this game would’ve turned out if Trout didn’t play. Ohtani’s pitching performance was just as important as Trout’s HRs in my opinion—but the team itself is still having trouble producing runs. Last night’s game was promising, but I’d like to see less players left on base and less strikeouts.

Trout isn’t going to hit 2-HRs every game (though he’s been doing that a lot lately).

True, but this is what MVPs are supposed to do, carry their teams.

[failos]

20 minutes ago, Torridd said:

True, but this is what MVPs are supposed to do, carry their teams.

You can’t expect them to do that every single game.

[tdawg87]

45 minutes ago, DCAngelsFan said:

We always knew Ward would come back to earth, but ever since his injury, he's been pretty bad - an OPS of .547 since May 26th - we're 3-18 in that span.

 

Didn't he get 3 hits last night?

[Chuck]

 

[failos]

2 minutes ago, tdawg87 said:

Didn't he get 3 hits last night?

Yep. Some people just love to whine and complain.

[79CAAman]

This team needs a brawl.  There I said it.  A new guy here, and I've watched a few games in my days.  A good old-fashioned benches clearing brawl with some torn jerseys, and maybe a bloodied lip, that will wake this team up from it's slumber.  Ef this one-game-a-time or it's-a-long-season nonsense cliche bullshit.  This team needs to wake up and play with some kind of passion.

My preference is for a brawl (no one gets hurt as pro baseball plays can't really fight), but I would also take Phil Nevin go all Earl Weaver or Billy Martin and get tossed from the game with a suspension.  That may also light something under our 2022 Angels.  

[tdawg87]

It's so weird seeing these posts right after a win.

[79CAAman]

That's the mentality that is keeping this team from being one of the elite teams in Major League Baseball. "oh yay, it's a win, woohoo, way to go fellas".  Bullshit. Anyone think this Angels team would have won last night against the Yankess, the Astors, the Dodgers... well I could rattle off a bunch of teams.  I know I'm not the only one that wants this team to make the playoffs!  Just want to see this team play with a little more fire.  Maybe Perry needs to trade for a guy to ignite something in the clubhouse.  We could use a little more Darin Erstad on this team. 

[Lou]

6 minutes ago, 79CAAman said:

That's the mentality that is keeping this team from being one of the elite teams in Major League Baseball. "oh yay, it's a win, woohoo, way to go fellas".  Bullshit. Anyone think this Angels team would have won last night against the Yankess, the Astors, the Dodgers... well I could rattle off a bunch of teams.  I know I'm not the only one that wants this team to make the playoffs!  Just want to see this team play with a little more fire.  Maybe Perry needs to trade for a guy to ignite something in the clubhouse.  We could use a little more Darin Erstad on this team. 

Glad you enjoyed the win.

[CaliAngel]

1 hour ago, 79CAAman said:

This team needs a brawl.

Why would the Angels brawl an opposing team when they have nobody to blame but themselves?

 

[tdawg87]

1 minute ago, 79CAAman said:

That's the mentality that is keeping this team from being one of the elite teams in Major League Baseball. "oh yay, it's a win, woohoo, way to go fellas".  Bullshit. Anyone think this Angels team would have won last night against the Yankess, the Astors, the Dodgers... well I could rattle off a bunch of teams.  I know I'm not the only one that wants this team to make the playoffs!  Just want to see this team play with a little more fire.  Maybe Perry needs to trade for a guy to ignite something in the clubhouse.  We could use a little more Darin Erstad on this team. 

Maybe last night was the start of a 12 game winning streak? 

These fantasy scenarios that just magically turn the season around are what we think about every year. And when they happen, nothing changes.

For example last year the Angels had a massive comeback win against the Yankees in Yankees stadium, with a game-tying Grand Slam by Jared Walsh off Aroldis Chapman. Did that turn the season around? No. No it did not.

What the hell is a fight going to do? They'll have a ton of adrenaline for a couple hours, then they go home, probably bang their wives and fall asleep.

What's going to turn this season around? The team winning baseball games. They won last night, so that's a start.