Shohei Ohtani runs out of steam in Angels’ loss to Athletics

There’s a composure that comes with every Shohei Ohtani pitching day.

No rushed innings, no rushed sequences. When he needs to take a deep breath, he does it. If he needs a little more time between pitches, he’ll pace, if only for a moment. If he throws an unwanted pitch, he moves on.

On Wednesday, he had a couple of unwanted pitches, resulting in the Oakland Athletics getting two earned runs from him (three runs total).

The Angels lost to the A’s 3-1, another game where proper running support was nowhere to be found. The Angels offense scattered six hits, going one-for-ten overall with runners in scoring position and leaving eight men on base.

Ohtani threw 5 2/3 innings of seven-hit baseball, including those runs, with a quiet night (0 for 3) at the plate, himself. He was also pulled for a pinch hitter in the seventh inning. He started with his signature command, pitching the first two innings without giving up a hit. In the third he gave up just one and got a hiccup in the fourth.

Ohtani looked like he was going to run out of breath, even though he hadn’t thrown 50 pitches to that point. The fourth started with his lead batter Ramon Laureano, who came in from third base after a throwing error by Luis Rengifo.

Ohtani threw a wild throw to his next batter, Sean Murphy, which went in the dirt and quickly rolled away from catcher Max Stassi to the backstop, allowing Laureano to advance to second base. That punch ended with Murphy hitting a grounder that rolled too far to the right of David Fletcher into right field, allowing Laureano to score.

Angels’ Shohei Ohtani watches his fifth-inning groundout against the Oakland Athletics at Angel Stadium on Wednesday.

(Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press)

He came through the fifth inning mostly unscathed, pointing out left fielders Magneuris Sierra and Rengifo – after Sierra picked up a hard-hitting grounder that rolled into outfield and threw the ball to Rengifo for the final from the inning at third base.

The sixth was Ohtani’s most expensive. Laureano again managed to hit a single from him, and Murphy followed that up with a two-barrel home run straight into the visitors’ bullpen over the left field wall. As Laureano and Murphy jogged around the bases, Ohtani didn’t miss a shot.

He bent down to adjust his pant legs, turned to get the next baseball from home plate umpire Nestor Ceja, walked back up the hill where he stood and stared out at the outfield, then turned back, turned to face his next batsman.

Ohtani couldn’t get past the sixth inning. Usually when he knows he’s on the last batter, he empties the tank and pulls out the last batter. He couldn’t on Wednesday and after giving up a single on his 99th pitch of the game until his final batter, interim manager Phil Nevin came out to take the ball from him.

Ohtani walked to the dugout to a standing ovation.