The Los Angeles Angels secured their second consecutive victory on Tuesday with an 11-5 victory over the Texas Rangers. It was an offensive explosion, highlights by Justin Upton, Jared Walsh, and Shohei Ohtani home runs. Ohtani’s — which capped off a six-run inning — was hit 117 miles per hour off the bat.
With runners at the corners and two outs in a fourth inning that already saw three runs cross the plate, Ohtani took a 3-2 cutter just past the wall in right field, hooking around the foul pole at 380 feet. It was Ohtani’s 15th home run of the season, putting him just one behind Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for the MLB lead.
It also added yet another impossibly impressive hit to Ohtani’s remarkable season. When asked about it, Walsh was at a loss for words over his teammate’s otherworldly abilities, according to Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com:
“I would assume for us mortals it’s basically impossible, but Shohei plays by his own rules,” Walsh said. “Nothing surprises me at this point. It’s like every day, it’s something new.”
Joe Maddon went into a little more detail on the mechanics of the home run and how impressed he was by it.
“It was quick,” Angels manager Joe Maddon said. “He hit it hard enough it couldn’t hook foul. That’s what I loved about it. I thought it would stay fair because he hit it too hard. It had a nice little baby draw on it and stayed fair.”
The 117 miles per hour exit velocity actually cemented Ohtani in the record books, as it was the hardest hit home run by an Angels player during the Statcast era (since 2015). It’s just another in a ever-growing list of accomplishments for the two-way star.
Now, it’s just a matter of the team’s role players and pitchers providing enough support so that these astonishing moments can continue to come in winning efforts.
Ohtani’s start on the mound moved to Thursday
Ohtani was originally scheduled to make his next start on Friday against the Oakland Athletics. While the opponent didn’t change, the day did, as Maddon announced that the start is actually going to come on Thursday.
It’s the series opener for the Halos against the Athletics, and they’re hopeful they can open things up in Oakland coming off of a three-game winning streak.