Shohei Ohtani made his latest pitching start on Wednesday night as the Los Angeles Dodgers played the Los Angeles Angels in the Freeway Series finale.
Although Ohtani has already played his former team as a designated hitter in the Dodgers’ lineup, Wednesday marked his first time pitching against them.
It also represented Ohtani’s first time facing Mike Trout as a pitcher since their memorable battle in the 2023 World Baseball Classic championship game at loanDepot Park. Ohtani struck out Trout to earn the save and close out the win for Team Japan.
“If you’re talking about on a world scale for baseball, that was as big as it gets,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts recalled. “That moment, Shohei pumping up Team Japan before that game, and then Trout-Shohei at-bat, that was epic.
“I was glued in. Hopefully Shohei gets the best of him again. Mike’s not going to back down, certainly. That was definitely good for TV. That was fun.”
The moment was made all the more dramatic as Ohtani needed to balance warming up in the bullpen with his spot in the lineup coming up late in the game. True to his two-way prowess, he handled that flawlessly and notched the strikeout on a devastating sweeper.
Shohei Ohtani vs. Mike Trout
Ohtani pitched against Trout twice on Wednesday night and again got the better of the fellow three-time MVP Award winner.
Trout was called out on strikes in the first inning, going down looking on Ohtani’s patented sweeper after seeing five fastballs in a row.
Then in the fourth inning, Trout struck out looking for the second time. That at-bat began with a curveball and a sweeper followed. Ohtani fell behind in the count 2-0 but battled back behind three consecutive fastballs.
The last of which was 100.7 mph, good for Ohtani’s fastest pitch of the night.
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