A Walk Off Needed

Heading into the 9th inning on Friday, the Angels had only won 1 game all season when they were trailing after 8 innings. 1 win outta 36 games. Last night made it 2 and with 2 out and an 0-2 count, Shohei Ohtani showed that while he might not be able to pitch right now, he can still make a difference.

Ohtani gets things Rolling

With 2 strikes on him in the bottom of the 9th, Ohtani fought against Dodger closer, Kelly Jansen, and drew a walk. That sparked a series of events that ended with the Angels winning the Freeway Series opener 3-2.

Once on base, Shohei stole 2nd and took 3rd on the catcher’s throw into center field. He scored on My Player of the Game, David Fletcher’s RBI single to tie up the game. Fletcher then pulled off the unbelievable by scoring from 1st as Ian Kinsler blooped a single to right field. It actually looked like the team would end up with runners at the corners with 2 outs but Yasiel Puig threw home to hold Fletcher on 3rd and he blew the throw allowing David to score and win the game.

I was totally surprised and elated with the turn of events. Usually, Jansen is lights out automatic but the 2 errors really helped the Angels pull this one out. Shohei made the difference in forcing things to happen. Not only did he have a great at bat but then he caused the first error.

Battling in 108° temperatures the team’s were clearly burning up. Felix Pena put in 5 1/3 innings in just his fourth start and he struck out a career high 8 Dodgers. He gave up 2 runs on 3 hits and looked good for a converted reliever.

The umpiring was once again suspect as Chad Whitson seemed to like the ball 6 inches outside. This is the second game in a row where the “new” strike zone was in play. Sometime recently it must have been decided that the strike zone now includes anything within 6 inches of the outside of the plate. Even Maeda was counting on those outside strikes as he started walking off the field in the 6th after he threw 6 inches outside to Justin Upton…that was the same place where Upton was called out on strikes earlier in the game.

This game, however, the Angels we’re able to over come the umpires and win in dramatic fashion. Ohtani, Fletcher, and a Kinsler were the heroes and the pitching staff threw a good game to keep the Dodgers in striking range.

Today, Deck McGuire (0-1, 8.64 ERA) goes against Ross Stripling (6-2, 2.27 ERA) and hopefully while the temperature is expected to be lower the Angels bats get even hotter.