WATCH: Shohei Ohtani goes big in Texas, blasts a powerful homer on the first pitch of the game
Shohei Ohtani, a two-way superstar for the Los Angeles Angels, blasted his first two home runs of the 2022 season against the Texas Rangers on Friday night. His performance helped the Angels emerge victorious.
Ohtani smashed a 96 mph fastball from Matt Bush 406 feet with an exit velocity of 108 mph on the opening pitch. With a launch angle of 41 degrees, it was a powerful homer.
HEY SHOHEI! ☄️
First pitch 🤝 first HR of the season for Ohtani
(via @BallySportWest)
https://t.co/TgzuK4WmCr
After this latest homer, the 27-year-old met his teammates in the dugout and donned a white cowboy hat. This has been the club's way of celebrating home runs this season.
YALL….ITS BACK! Ohtani quickly makes it 1-0! 🤠🤠🤠 https://t.co/uHVSH1kFSn
In the fifth inning, Ohtani hit his second home run on a 0-1 cutter off lefty Kolby Allard. Ohtani's second homer of the night, and 95th overall, clocked in at 108.1 mph and traveled 415 feet.
The Japanese star has had seven multi-homer games in his career. After his latest feat, Ohtani has 12 career home runs against Texas, the most of any team he has faced.
The second home run of the night for Shohei Ohtani! https://t.co/dGnY66G2Ga
The Rangers vs Angels game on Saturday ended with a score of 9 to 6 in favor of the visiting Los Angeles side. This symbolizes a significant step up for Ohtani, as he forced the squad to fight through and begin a rally to take control of the game.
How did Shohei Ohtani perform in 2021?
Shohei Ohtani, the Angels' ace pitcher and the designated hitter, is coming off an MVP season in 2021 when he pitched to a 3.18 ERA in 23 starts and hit 46 home runs.
The 'Shotime' accomplished everything in 2021, from exceptional pitching to batting to even spending some time in the outfield (seven appearances). He was voted into the All-Star game as a DH, making him the straightforward national narrative of the first half of the season.
In 2022, however, Ohtani had had a difficult start as a pitcher (7.56 ERA through two starts) and as a batter. The American League MVP had already doubled twice this season but was yet to hit a home run in his first seven games.
Ohtani began this game with a slash line of .172/.200/.241 in 2022, with zero home runs. Now, the line has been raised to a more reasonable level of .219/.242/.469.