MLB

Yankees withstand 'generational talent' Ohtani as Marquez flirts with history

By Sports Desk June 30, 2021

Shohei Ohtani hit two home runs to seize the MLB lead, but the Los Angeles Angels still lost 11-5 to the New York Yankees.

After drilling the hardest-hit home run by an Angels player record by Statcast on Monday, two-way star Ohtani was at it again with a two-homer display at Yankee Stadium 24 hours later.

Ohtani homered in the third and fifth innings as he improved his season tally to 28 home runs, ahead of Toronto Blue Jays sensation Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

The Japanese star's performance on Tuesday drew praise from Yankees counterpart and slugger Aaron Judge, who said: "He's a generational talent.

"To see what he's doing this year is pretty impressive. It feels like any pitch that's over the plate is going to get hit. And it's going to get hit hard."

 

Ohtani (2021 and 2018) is only the third player with multiple 10-strikeout games and multiple two-homer games in a season since 1901 after Rick Wise (1971) and Jack Harshman (1958), according to Stats Perform.

Judge and Gary Sanchez both homered to help the slumping Yankees snap a four-game skid.

 

Marquez flirts with no-hitter

Colorado Rockies pitcher German Marquez flirted with history in the team's 8-0 rout of the Pittsburgh Pirates at Coors Field. Marquez threw eight hitless innings until Ka'ai Tom led off the ninth inning with a single into right field. Marquez completed a one-hitter, while striking out five batters. According to Stats Perform, he is the first pitcher to throw a Maddux while having two extra-base hits himself since pitches started being tracked in 1988 (A Maddux is a complete-game shutout with fewer than 100 pitches).

Robbie Ray tied Roger Clemens (1997) for the most strikeouts by a Blue Jays pitcher in the first 15 starts of a season after reaching 113 on Tuesday. Ray finished with 10 strikeouts, five hits, three runs and a homer in 6.0 innings as Toronto topped the Seattle Mariners 9-3.

World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers extended their winning streak to five games after defeating the high-flying San Francisco Giants 3-1. The Dodgers are now one and a half games adrift in the National League (NL) West.

 

Orioles get on top of Garcia

The Houston Astros were crushed 13-3 by the Baltimore Orioles. Robel Garcia was tagged for four runs on two-run homers in his first career pitching performance in the ninth inning. Ramon Urias and Austin Wynns homered off Garcia, who gave up five hits in 1.0 innings.

 

Schwarber stays hot

Kyler Schwarber celebrated his 12th homer in 10 games to help the Washington Nationals past the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3. Schwarber led off the first inning with a home run. He tied Albert Belle (1995) for the most homers over a 10-game span since at least 1901.

 

Tuesday's results

New York Yankees 11-5 Los Angeles Angels
Philadelphia Phillies 4-3 Miami Marlins
Washington Nationals 4-3 Tampa Bay Rays
Toronto Blue Jays 9-3 Seattle Mariners
Boston Red Sox 7-6 Kansas City Royals
San Diego Padres 5-4 Cincinnati Reds
New York Mets 4-3 Atlanta Braves
Baltimore Orioles 13-3 Houston Astros
Milwaukee Brewers 2-1 Chicago Cubs
Chicago White Sox 7-6 Minnesota Twins
St Louis Cardinals 3-2 Arizona Diamondbacks
Colorado Rockies 8-0 Pittsburgh Pirates
Texas Rangers 5-4 Oakland Athletics
Los Angeles Dodgers 3-1 San Francisco Giants
Detroit Tigers-Cleveland Indians (postponed)

 

Angels at Yankees

The Angels (38-41) and Yankees (41-38) will continue their battle at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday. Red-hot Ohtani will start on the mound for the Angels, while the Yankees counter with Domingo German.

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    Sale allowed one hit and one run over five innings with three walks and eight strikeouts to join Philadelphia’s Ranger Suarez and Kansas City’s Seth Lugo as 10-game winners.

    Four relievers finished up the three-hitter.

    The Braves built a 2-0 lead on Rodon’s first two pitches as Jarred Kelenic singled before Albies homered to left.

    Riley added his seventh home run later in the inning for a 3-0 lead. He finished 2 for 3 with two walks and has 12 hits in his last 22 at-bats, including four homers and four doubles.

    Kelenic singled home a run in the second and Ramon Laureano doubled home another run in the third. Olson’s two-run blast in the fourth made it 7-1 and an error by left fielder Jahmai Jones allowed the eighth run to score.

    Atlanta has won four in a row and seven of its last eight games.

    Rodon, who also was bidding for his 10th victory, was tagged for season highs of eight runs and 11 hits in 3 2/3 innings. He lost his second straight start following a personal seven-game winning streak.

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    Ohtani homers against former team in loss

    Shohei Ohtani hit a two-run homer in his first game against his former team, but Taylor Ward singled home the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th inning to lift the Los Angeles Angels to a 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

    Nolan Schanuel sacrificed automatic runner Jo Adell to third to open the 10th. Evan Phillips then retired Luis Rengifo on a groundout with Adell holding, but Ward followed with a single to left to give the Angels their first lead of the game.

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