TORONTO — Until the Angels can get to the playoffs, they’ll have to settle for moments like this one.
Facing a contending team with a Cy Young candidate on the mound in front of hostile sellout crowd, Shohei Ohtani delivered.
Ohtani pitched seven innings in the Angels’ 2-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon, outdueling Alek Manoah in front of a Rogers Centre crowd of 45,311.
The packed house was mostly because of the Blue Jays’ celebration of the 30th anniversary of their first World Series-winning team, but after the ceremony the fans were treated to a matchup of two of baseball’s best pitchers.
Luis Rengifo’s RBI single in the sixth against Manoah and Andrew Velazquez’s insurance homer in the ninth were enough for the Angels. Ohtani and Jimmy Herget combined for the Angels’ second consecutive shutout in Toronto, and league-leading 16th of the season.
Ohtani was clearly back to full strength after battling through a stomach virus when he got knocked out after four innings in his previous outing last Sunday.
Ohtani allowed just two Blue Jays hits. He walked one and struck out nine, throwing a season-high 109 pitches.
After his 22nd start of the season — one shy of last year’s total — Ohtani lowered his ERA to 2.67.
In the first inning, Ohtani tried the new sinker he started using a couple starts ago. He threw five sinkers and no four-seam fastballs. He needed 28 pitches to get through the inning, issuing a walk and allowing a hit. After that, he abandoned the sinker, throwing just one more in the game.
He was much more effective with his other pitches. From the second through the seventh, Ohtani worked six innings on 81 pitches. He gave up a two-out double to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the third, then struck out Alejandro Kirk to escape the jam.
After the double, Ohtani retired 11 consecutive hitters without much trouble. Shortstop Andrew Velazquez made an error to end the string, but Ohtani responded by getting the last two hitters of the seventh to finish his outing.
Ohtani had to be at his best because Manoah was pitching as expected.
Manoah, who brought a 2.66 ERA to the mound, shut out the Angels through the first five innings, even though the Angels put the leadoff man on base in four of those innings.
One of those was Ryan Aguilar’s hit to lead off the fifth. Aguilar yanked a ball just inside the first-base line for his first big-league hit. It was an easy double, but third-base coach Mike Gallego waved Aguilar to third and he was thrown out by 15 feet.
The Angels finally put a run on the board in the sixth.
David Fletcher led off with a single – his fifth hit in the first two games in Toronto – and then Mike Trout walked. Ohtani hit a comebacker to Manoah, but he barely beat the relay at first to avoid a double play.
Rengifo then punched Manoah’s first pitch into left field for an RBI single.
Ohtani then held the narrow lead for two innings, before Herget worked a perfect eighth and then went through the heart of the Blue Jays’ order in the ninth for his third save of the season.
