Los Angeles Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani earned his fifth win after he struggled on the mound but went 4-for-5 with a three-run homer in a 9-5 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Monday.
Ohtani (5-1) gave up five runs on four hits, three of them homers, in seven innings at Oriole Park in Baltimore. At the plate, he finished a double shy of his second major league cycle.
The 2021 American League MVP drove a first-pitch curveball from Grayson Rodriguez (2-1) over the wall in right-center for his ninth home run of the season, putting the Angels ahead 7-4 in a five-run fourth.
It was the fourth time that Ohtani has homered on the same day he was the winning pitcher in MLB -- and the first since last August against the Oakland Athletics.
Ohtani entered his final at-bat in the ninth needing a double to complete the cycle but singled to left. The Angels finished with 17 hits en route to their first win in three games.
"It was good to give the team some cushion with my bat," Ohtani said. "I was thinking about the cycle in my last two times up, but I pitched poorly and that was also on my mind."
"There are many things I have to learn about pitching and I can be better. If I think that way, it's a plus."
Against Ohtani, the Orioles led 2-1 in the second inning and then 4-3 in the third on two-run home runs from Adam Frazier and Anthony Santander, leaving manager Brandon Hyde with some highlights to talk about while ruing how his team pitched to the Angels star.
"For me, he (Ohtani) is one of the best players on the planet, we scored five runs off him and I thought the at-bats were as good you could be."
"But he squared up three balls and put one over the fence, so we've got to pitch better to him than we did tonight."
The right-hander regrouped to work seven innings, striking out five and walking two in a 98-pitch outing.
