Los Angeles Angels designated hitter Shohei Ohtani showed that he knows how to celebrate a birthday. Now he will now look to keep the party going on the road Saturday against the Houston Astros.
Ohtani went 1-for-4 with a home run Friday, his 13th on the season, in the Angels’ 5-4 victory over the Houston Astros in the opener of a three-game series. His 423-foot blast off Houston ace Justin Verlander came on his 25th birthday.
Ohtani also homered on his 20th birthday five years ago, going deep twice while playing for the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in his native Japan.
After missing the opening 34 games of the season following offseason Tommy John surgery, Ohtani seemingly hit the ground running, flashing the prodigious power that highlighted his breakout, albeit abbreviated, rookie season.
Ohtani has been especially hot of late, hitting 17-for-37 (.459) with four doubles and four homers over his past 11 games, providing All-Start center fielder Mike Trout a slugging partner capable of helping carry the Angels into the All-Star break on an uptick.
“He’s been consistently having good at-bats and getting hits, big hits, home runs,” Los Angeles manager Brad Ausmus said. “When he doesn’t hit the ball great in the infield, he has enough speed to beat it out. He’s been as hot as we’ve had, other than (Trout).
“Shohei is a very smart hitter. He may only be 25, but he is a very intelligent hitter and a very prepared hitter.”
Left-hander Andrew Heaney (1-2, 5.40 ERA), who missed 51 games with left elbow inflammation, will make his eighth start of the season for the Angels on Saturday. He was saddled with the loss against the Oakland Athletics on Sunday after allowing five runs on six hits and one walk with eight strikeouts over six innings.
Heaney has recorded at least eight strikeouts in four of his seven starts this year. In seven career starts against the Astros, he is 3-2 with a 3.15 ERA and 39 strikeouts in 40 innings. He is 1-1 with a 6.00 ERA over two starts at Minute Maid Park.
Right-hander Gerrit Cole (8-5, 3.28 ERA), the American League pitcher of the month for June, will start the middle game of the series for Houston. Cole finished 3-0 with a 1.89 ERA over six starts last month, recording 49 strikeouts over 38 innings.
He is 3-1 with a 3.58 ERA over six career starts against the Angels, with four of those starts coming in 2018 in his first season with Houston. Cole went 2-1 with a 3.65 ERA against the Angels with 36 strikeouts over 24? innings.
While Cole is trending in a positive direction, Verlander carried his relative struggles from June into his first start of this month. Recently named to his eighth All-Star Game, Verlander allowed three homers Friday, doing so for the fourth time this season and second against the Angels.
Verlander has surrendered 26 homers this season, four shy of his career high of 30 set in 2016 and the fourth-most for any season of his stellar career. Over his past five starts, Verlander has allowed 12 home runs.
“I’ve got to do a better job of keeping the ball in the yard,” Verlander said. “It’s been a common theme here all year really, but really the last four or five starts. I’ve got to figure out a way to combat this thing.”