The Chicago White Sox had a very tough series against the Los Angeles Angels and they knew that would be the case coming in. They are not an elite team but they have both Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani which gives them a chance to win every game.
Los Angeles won the first game and Chicago won the second. A guy like Ohtani had his triumphs in the first two games but they came with his bat. On Wednesday, he took his talents to the pitcher’s mound and showed why he is the most spectacular athlete on the planet.
Ohtani has more home runs than most White Sox players are even on pace for this season at 17. That makes him an incredible baseball player right there. The fact that he started this game and did what he did pitching makes him truly the greatest talent who ever lived.
Against the White Sox on Wednesday, Ohtani went 5.2 innings and only gave up five hits (three of them were to Jose Abreu) and only one walk. None of those people who reached base came around to score as he put up a zero in the run column.
Ohtani recorded a remarkable 11 strikeouts in this effort as well. His stuff was on point. The only knock on his performance was the fact that he threw a lot of pitches. After 5.2, he had 108 pitches and was taken out of the ballgame.
Shohei Ohtani was spectacular against the Chicago White Sox in this series.
He certainly was effective, however, as 74 of those 108 were thrown for a strike. Ohtani’s ERA on the season is now down to 2.68 which is going to have him amongst the league leaders. He is one of the best pitchers in the league and the dude is a designated hitter every other game.
Even when he came out of this game as a pitcher, he resumed his role as the designated hitter. He is like if you were to take Luis Robert at the plate and Michael Kopech on the mound and put them into one player.
Speaking of Kopech, he had a pretty good outing as well. He went 5.1 but he gave up three earned runs on five hits and only had six strikeouts. We have seen him be much better than that but he was good enough to win as the White Sox offense let him down.
Ohtani usually hits very well in games he pitches but that wasn’t the case in this one. He walked once but went 0-3 otherwise with two strikeouts.
Luckily for him, the rest of his teammates picked up just enough offense for him to get the win. He did not go home feeling like he didn’t contribute in this one.
Now, the White Sox are headed upstate to play the San Francisco Giants. That is going to be a great series as the Giants are still a pretty good team. The White Sox will need to bring their best to win of course but it is nice to know they will not be seeing Ohtani until next season.