Los Angeles Angels fans exultant as Shohei Ohtani joins only Babe Ruth in exclusive club during win vs. St. Louis Cardinals: "That was beautiful!"
Los Angeles Angels phenom Shohei Ohtani had a historic night against the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday. He joined Babe Ruth as the only MLB players to hit 100 home runs and strikeout 500 batters during Wednesday's come-from-behind win in St. Louis.
Ohtani struck out 13 batters over just five innings, with his final whiff of the night — against Cardinals superstar third baseman Nolan Arenado — giving him strikeout number 500 in his six-year MLB career. The Japanese superstar already has 134 home runs.
Shohei Ohtani joins Babe Ruth in exclusive club with 500 strikeouts as a pitcher and 100 home runs as a hitter
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Babe Ruth finished his 22-year career by hitting his 714th and final homer as a member of the Boston Braves in 1935. Ruth also had 488 career strikeouts, with all but five coming as a hurler for the Boston Red Sox before he was sold to the New York Yankees and turned into the "Sultan of Swat".
Shohei Ohtani has a long way to go to match Ruth in both home runs and strikeouts. However, he is rising to Ruthian levels of popularity as a major-league player. Millions follow his efforts from game to game, not just in North America, but throughout the world.
@TalkinBaseball_ Reminds me of Fernando Mania back in early 80's. Except Fernando never hit 30 homers. Lol!
Shohei Ohtani is an absolute unit. 13 Ks tonight against the Cardinals 🔥
@TalkinBaseball_ i heard he’s pretty good
While Shohei Ohtani logged 13 of his 15 outs by strikeout, not all were sunshine and roses on the night for the pitching/hitting machine. It was Ohtani's second consecutive poor outing on the mound, as the Cardinals got him an early hook after scoring four earned runs on five hits and a walk over five innings.
In Ohtani's previous start against the moribund Oakland Athletics, Ohtani was similarly rocked for five earned runs on three hits and two walks.
The two combined starts inflated Ohtani's ERA from 0.64 to 2.54 through six pitching appearances this season.
@TalkinBaseball_ 13 out of the 15 outs he was in for being K’s is insane
@TalkinBaseball_ Back to back bad starts
@TalkinBaseball_ But gave up fours runs to the worst team in baseball
However, the Los Angeles Angels came to Shohei Ohtani's rescue and saved their poster boy from suffering his first loss of the season.
With their usual closer, Ryan Helsley, stumbling this season, the St. Louis Cardinals turned to Giovanny Gallegos to close out a hoped-for 4-3 win. However, the Angels smacked the makeshift closer around for three runs on four hits to steal away a 6-4 victory.
@Angels That was beautiful! Never give up
@Angels I can't believe we just pulled that off.
@Angels That’s three in a row. We call that a winning streak.
The victory boosted the Los Angeles Angels' record to 17-14 on the season with their third straight victory and second straight over the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Cardinals ended the night as the worst team in the National League with a 10-21 record. St. Louis has lost five in a row and has won just twice in its last 10 games.
@Angels https://t.co/k4mbLJIAmy
Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Angels go for the sweep against the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday
The Angels will go for their fourth straight win in the series finale against the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday, with the first pitch scheduled for 12:15 p.m.