ARLINGTON, Texas — With little left to achieve for the Angels this season except individuals reaching statistical milestones, Shohei Ohtani achieved a couple of notable ones on Wednesday night.
Ohtani stole his 25th base and then scored his 100th run, starting a four-run inning that sent the Angels on their way to a 7-2 victory over the Texas Rangers.
Ohtani is the first player in American League history to combine those two numbers with 45 homers. Of course, no one has ever done it while also pitching, which Ohtani won’t do again this season. Ohtani, who stole his 26th base in the ninth inning, also has 98 RBIs, with four games to go.
Ohtani also had two singles, including a 109-mph bullet that appeared to rip through second baseman Andy Ibanez’s glove.
“That galvanizes the MVP,” Manager Joe Maddon quipped. “When you start breaking gloves, you’re the MVP.”
Although the Angels are playing out the string in another losing season, by winning on Wednesday night they at least avoided a second straight loss to the Rangers, who absorbed their 100th loss.
The Angels broke open a tie game in the sixth, starting with a leadoff infield single by Ohtani. He hit a ground ball to first and easily got to the base before first baseman Nathaniel Lowe.
Ohtani then stole second and took third on an errant throw. He scored on a Jack Mayfield single. Kurt Suzuki and Jared Walsh followed with singles. Taylor Ward walked and then Juan Lagares singles. The fourth run scored on a groundout.
The runs came too late for starter Janson Junk to get a victory on a night when he gave up two runs in 4-1/3 innings and left with the score tied.
Junk, who came up from Double-A, was one of the pitchers the Angels received from the New York Yankees in the Andrew Heaney deal.
For the first three innings on Wednesday, Junk gave up just two singles, and one didn’t make it out of the infield.
In the fourth, he recorded the first two outs but then gave up four straight singles as the Rangers scored a couple of runs to tie the game.
He was pulled after allowing a one-out single in the fifth.
Angels relievers Austin Warren, José Quijada, Mike Mayers, Steve Cishek and Raisel Iglesias held the Rangers scoreless the rest of the game.
Quijada stood out, entering in the sixth with runners at second and third and no outs. He struck out the next three hitters, including a whiff on a 96.4-mph fastball that was his hardest pitch of the year.
“That’s as good as he looked right there,” Maddon said.
Quijada’s string of strikeouts was the first of 12 consecutive hitters retired by the Angels’ bullpen to end the game.
“It was a pretty complete game on our part,” Maddon said. “Outstanding pitching. That’s as good as our bullpen can look right there. Nice team win.”
