Shohei Ohtani pitched six strong innings and continued his home run barrage with his 22nd of the season in the Los Angeles Angels’ 5-3 win over the Texas Rangers on Thursday.
The Japanese superstar held the AL West-leading Rangers to two runs and six hits in six innings and belted a two-run homer off reliever Brock Burke in the eighth inning to extend the Angels’ lead to 5-2.
Ohtani tied Pete Alonso of the New York Mets for the major league home run lead with his seventh in 10 games. He is batting .489 (22 of 45) with 16 RBIs during a 12-game hitting streak.
Chad Wallach homered in the second inning and Mickey Moniak snapped a seventh-inning tie with a blast off Rangers ace Nathan Eovaldi to put the Angels on top to stay.
Angels closer Carlos Estevez walked the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth and had to be replaced by Jacob Webb, who got the first two outs before walking in a run. Webb then struck out Adolis Garcia to end it, giving Los Angeles its ninth win in 11 games.
In a marquee pitching matchup, both Ohtani and Eovaldi didn’t disappoint.
Eovaldi was bidding to become the second 10-game winner in the majors, but instead lost for the first time since April 12. He surrendered three runs and five hits over seven innings, walking two and striking out nine.
Phillies edge Diamondbacks to move over .500
The defending National League champion Philadelphia Phillies went back over the .500 mark for the first time in more than a month with a 5-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Bryson Stott hit his second home run in three games to back 6 2/3 strong innings from Aaron Nola to help Philadelphia win for the 10th time in 12 games and improve to 35-34.
Arizona scored four runs in the third inning to take a 4-3 lead, but the Phillies went ahead for good in the fourth on run-scoring hits from Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper.
Every Philadelphia starter had at least one hit, with two each from Stott, Nick Castellanos, Trea Turner and Alec Bohm.
Rays beat Athletics to reach 50 wins
Luke Raley hit a go-ahead home run in the eighth inning and the Tampa Bay Rays edged the Oakland Athletics 4-3 to become the first team to win 50 games.
Manuel Margot also went deep, and rookie Taj Bradley struck out the first six Oakland batters and 11 in all as Tampa Bay gained a split of the four-game series.
The Athletics loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh, but Jake Diekman got Seth Brown to ground into a double play and struck out Brent Rooker to keep the game tied at 3.
Nevada governor Joe Lombardo signed into law Thursday a $380 million public financing package to help build a stadium for the Athletics on the Las Vegas strip. The team said in a statement the Nevada governor’s signing of the funding package was “a significant step forward in securing a new home for the Athletics.”