Shohei Ohtani surrendered a career-worst four home runs but earned his eighth win after the Los Angeles Angels responded with their own barrage of bombs to overcome the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-5 on Friday.
The red-hot Halos lineup also homered four times, rallying for five runs in the fourth inning and three more in the fifth to back Ohtani's 6-1/3 inning start. The two-way star struck out nine while allowing five earned runs on six hits, a walk and a hit batsman.
The victory extended the Angels' winning streak to four games as they battle to end an eight-year playoff drought with an American League Wild Card berth.
Hampered by a blister and fingernail issues in recent starts, Ohtani (8-5) made it into the top of the fourth inning at Angel Stadium without trouble before giving up back-to-back homers to Choi Ji Man and Henry Davis.
Ohtani helped the Angels rally back in the home half of the inning, leading off with a walk and sprinting the bases to score on a double from Mickey Moniak. Mike Moustakas launched a three-run blast and Trey Cabbage soloed with his first MLB home run to put the Angels up 5-2 at the end of the fourth.
Although he allowed two further homers, including a second from Davis, Ohtani also contributed to the Angels' three-run fifth, scoring on Taylor Ward's two-run bomb.
"It didn't feel too bad when I threw, including my fingertips," Ohtani said. "They seemed to take advantage of my fat pitches. As it was, I was glad to limit my pitch count and make it into the seventh inning."
The MLB's current home run leader with 35, Ohtani finished 0-for-1 at the plate after drawing three walks and scoring two runs.
While there is an outside chance he may have made his last home start in Anaheim ahead of the Aug. 1 trade deadline, the AL MVP favorite told MLB.com that thoughts of a trade "did not cross my mind at all."
"Obviously, I'm a part of the Angels at this moment and feel like we're in a decent spot to make a playoff run. So I try not to really think about that," he said.
At Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, Shintaro Fujinami debuted for the Baltimore Orioles in relief against the Tampa Bay Rays. The right-hander pitched the seventh inning in his team's 3-0 loss, giving up a run on Jose Siri's home run and striking out one.
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