For years, superstar Mike Trout has carried the otherwise mediocre Angels on his back. Since Trout’s injury absence, Shohei Ohtani has lifted the mantle in his place, and is doing so in remarkable fashion.
Ohtani came up just a single short of hitting for the cycle against the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday. He got better and better as the game went along.
The two-way star struck out and walked in his first two at-bats. He then doubled, tripled and homered (in that order) during his final three at-bats, finishing 3-for-4 with three RBI in the Angels’ 6-4 win.
Ohtani’s ninth-inning homer helped Los Angeles add an insurance run before Raisel Iglesias notched the save.
Ohtani’s PA’s today … in order …
K
BB
2B
3B
HR— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) June 27, 2021
Ohtani tripled in the top of the seventh when the Angels were trailing by a run. His extra-base hit scored a runner from second, tying the game in the process. Ohtani reached third standing up. He now has a league-leading 45 extra-base hits on the year.
Take a look.
With this RBI triple, Shohei Ohtani has 45 XBH on the season, which is the most in @MLB.
He also has a 2.58 ERA. pic.twitter.com/SOCM390KCB
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) June 27, 2021
Ohtani is also the fastest Angels player to reach 25 home runs in a season. It took him 77 team games.
Shohei Ohtani is the fastest @Angels hitter ever to reach 25 HR in a season (77 team games). pic.twitter.com/07hhBMcCi5
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) June 27, 2021
We have officially run out of words to try and describe Shohei Ohtani, so we’re going to let baseball fans do it for us.
Take a look below at how fans are reacting to Ohtani’s incredible performance on Sunday.
Shohei Ohtani took an inside pitch 400+ feet the other way, ending his day with a double, triple, home run, 3 RBI, and a stolen base.
Oh yeah…he also has a 2.58 ERA.
Easily of the most talented players in baseball history.pic.twitter.com/VBE0wcEJyt
— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) June 27, 2021
How?…. Ohtani is crazy strong. If the outfielder would have jogged in a few steps to catch this I wouldn’t have thought twice about it. https://t.co/3dYJjvZ4La
— Will Middlebrooks (@middlebrooks) June 27, 2021
🔊 THAT SOUND! 🔊
There’s barreling one up, and then there’s how pure Shohei Ohtani just squared this moon shot 😲. pic.twitter.com/J3jBk1alGA
— MyBookie – Bet With The Best (@MyBookieBet) June 27, 2021
Enjoy Shohei Ohtani while you can. The Angels are destined to miss the postseason for the seventh straight season. They find themselves 10.5 games behind the Houston Astros in the AL West at 37-40.
Barring a miraculous turnaround, the Angels are once again going to find a way to waste generational talents like Ohtani and Mike Trout.
The post MLB World Reacts To Shohei Ohtani’s Insane Performance appeared first on The Spun.