Shohei Ohtani turned in a quality start, but it wasn’t enough to prevent his first loss of the season as the Los Angeles Angels fell, 3-1, to the Houston Astros on Tuesday.
The two-way star allowed three runs on six hits and collected seven strikeouts against two walks over six innings pitched. The Astros did all of their damage in the fifth inning, with Martin Maldonado hitting a two-run homer and Yordan Alvarez driving in another run with an RBI single.
Even with the tough-luck defeat, Ohtani was able to set another MLB record. His seven strikeouts against the Astros gave him 507 for his career, which passed Babe Ruth’s total of 488.
According to Elias Sports, Ohtani’s 507 career strikeouts is the most among players to hit at least 100 home runs in MLB history.
#Angels Shohei Ohtani has reached 502 career pitching strikeouts, which surpasses Babe Ruth's career total (per @EliasSports).
Ohtani now has the most pitching strikeouts among players to hit at least 100 career home runs.
— Angels PR (@LAAngelsPR) May 10, 2023
Ohtani has been compared to Ruth on multiple occasions, and his latest accomplishment further ties them together in baseball lore.
Ruth, who finished his career with 714 home runs, pitched in parts of 10 seasons and went 94-46 with a 2.28 ERA, 2.81 FIP and 1.16 WHIP over 1,221.1 innings across 163 games (147 starts).
As for Ohtani, he has hit 134 home runs and counting in what is now his sixth season with the Angels. On the mound, the right-hander has gone 32-15 with a 2.93 ERA, 3.11 FIP, 1.07 WHIP and 11.5 strikeouts per nine in 395.2 innings pitched over 71 starts.
Angels’ Shohei Ohtani enjoys visiting Yankee Stadium
During the Angels’ three-game series against the New York Yankees last month, Ohtani revealed that he enjoys playing at Yankee Stadium. Perhaps fittingly, he was also present at the ballpark for the 100th anniversary of the original Yankee Stadium and Ruth’s home run.
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