Ohtani, Yamamoto have mixed results in Oracle’s debut as Dodgers

Ohtani, Yamamoto have mixed results in Oracle’s debut as Dodgers originally appeared in NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – A number of Shohei Ohtani’s abilities deserve their own story after any game. His two-way powers at the plate and on the pitcher’s mound, when healthy, put him in a league of his own — invoking comparisons to a single player nearly 100 years ago whose pregame meal was a one-on-one hot dog eating contest. eating and drinking beer before literally playing only white people.

There’s the power Ohtani possesses in the batter’s box that led him to lead the league in home runs last season (44), as well as the artillery that lives inside his right arm that led him to lead the league in strikeouts per nine innings. (11.9 ) the same year. What often goes unnoticed and should never be forgotten is what his two legs can do at 6 feet and 200 pounds.

Ohanti in his first at-bat Monday night at Los Angeles Dodgers win 6-4 against the Giants in 10 innings caught a hitting streak at Oracle Park on the first pitch he saw. The left-handed hitting star followed Mookie Betts’ seven-pitch leadoff home run with a sharp shot to right field at 106 mph off his bat.

Ohtani previously went 0-for-8 with two strikeouts in three games in San Francisco.

The next two times Ohtani homered were a demonstration of his forgotten talent on the base paths.

“He hits the ball further than anyone. When he’s healthy, his arm is as good as any on the field. He’s faster than anyone on the field,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after L.A.’s win. “There’s nothing he can’t do. …There are so many ways Shohei can beat you.

Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who pitched against Ohtani as a rookie in Japan and was his teammate at last year’s Baseball World Classic, had a more blunt response regarding Ohtani’s speed: “It’s very fast.”

Ohtani’s third hit, in fact, was his strongest ball of the night, a 179.5 mph grounder up the middle, caught by second baseman Thairo Estrada. Although Estrada was able to get Betts out at second base, shortstop Casey Schmitt was unable to complete the double play because of Ohtani’s run.

Looking to take advantage of pitcher Jordan Hicks’ high shooting and the absence of Giants catcher Patrick Bailey behind the plate, Ohtani got a big lead at first base. When Hicks came down from the mound, Ohtani was trapped. Until his speed took on.

As soon as Hicks threw to first base, Ohtani sprinted to second. First baseman LaMonte Wade Jr.’s throw went off target, rolling into the outfield. Ohtani kept running at his new opportunity and beat the throw to third base, where he was trapped by a Freddie Freeman groundout.

The fifth inning is where Ohtani’s speed really became a differentiator. The inning should have been all about Mike Yastrzemski’s dive down the right field line to prevent a run from scoring. But a wild pitch to Ohtani put Andy Pages at third base. The Dodgers didn’t need Ohtani to scramble to bring home Pages and bring them within one run of the Giants.

Your legs did all the work. Ohtani hit a 99 mph fastball straight to the ground, spun with his back left foot and shot in hyperdrive, forcing Estrada to swing his changeup as Pages scored. Ohtani’s sprint speed on the RBI single was 30 feet per second, which is considered elite by Statcast.

Although he struck out his last two at-bats, finishing 2-for-5 with an RBI, Ohtani still showed one of the many ways he can beat you in his first game in San Francisco since joining the Dodgers in a 10-year, $10 contract. 700 million.

Monday night marked Ohtani’s first experience with the Dodgers-Giants rivalry on the road, as well as Yamamoto’s. The former Orix Buffaloes ace was also coveted by the Giants during the offseason before signing a 12-year, $325 million contract to join Ohtani in Los Angeles. Yamamoto allowed four earned runs on five hits in 5 ⅔ innings and had six strikeouts.

Yamamoto (no decision) was happy with the Dodgers’ victory, but not satisfied with his personal performance.

“My material wasn’t bad, but in the situation I had to keep it at zero,” Yamamoto said through translator Yoshihiro Sonoda. “My ball was hanging and they took advantage.”

Luis Matos, in his first game back in the big leagues, and his third with the Giants this season, hit a first-pitch curveball into the left field bleachers in the second inning to give the Giants an early 3-1 lead.

In the first two innings, Yamamoto threw 11 curveballs and the Giants didn’t hit or error once. He only used the field eight more times the rest of the way. He also threw the slider just four times, and the fourth was his last pitch of the night.

Heliote Ramos, another young outfielder recently called up from Triple-A Sacramento, powered Yamamoto’s slider that caught much of the strike zone and hit a grounder past a diving Betts at shortstop to score Matt Chapman who put the Giants back on top in the sixth inning.

“That’s something I wasn’t satisfied with,” Yamamoto said. “The curveball, when it’s hanging, gives them a much better chance of hitting a home run or scoring.”

Yamamoto has allowed just eight earned runs in his last seven starts, but his six strikeouts are the most in his last three starts. Ohtani went down twice and looked silly doing so against lefty Erik Miller.

Yet even in a game where neither was the most dominant, on a night when both players’ fans let their voices be heard amid a sea of ​​Dodger Blue in the stands, Ohtani and Yamamoto broke a crystal in what could have been for the Giants – as opposed to what will be on the other side in the next decade to open this three-game series where the Giants have already fallen to nine games behind the Dodgers in the NL West.

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