Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash might have been wise to take a page out of Joe Maddon’s playbook and walk Shohei Ohtani intentionally with the bases loaded in the seventh inning Monday night, just like the Angels manager did with Texas Rangers slugger Corey Seager on April 16.
Instead, Cash could only watch helplessly as Ohtani crushed a grand slam to left-center field to cap a five-run outburst that propelled the Angels toward an 11-3 victory over the Rays before 19,537 in Angel Stadium.
Ohtani’s 413-foot shot on a 3-and-1 cut-fastball from reliever Calvin Faucher was the two-way star’s first-ever grand slam — in Japan or the major leagues. He also hit a solo shot to left-center in the sixth inning, giving him eight multi-homer games in his big league career and six homers on the season.
