Los Angeles Angels manager Joe Maddon is worried baseball fans might start to take Shohei Ohtani's "otherworldly" two-way talents for granted.
In his third start of the year against the Boston Red Sox on Friday, Ohtani struck out 11 in seven shutout innings, allowing only six hits and no walks in throwing 81 of his 99 pitches for strikes.
In the pitch-count era (since 1988, minimum 50 pitches), his 81.8 per cent strike rate is the highest by a visiting pitcher at Fenway Park. Only one Red Sox pitcher – Nathan Eovaldi (82.0 per cent) last season – has topped that mark.
For good measure, Ohtani added two hits – falling just short of a home run with a single in the fourth, before cannoning another single off the Green Monster in the eighth, knocking his number 17 out of the manual scoreboard and driving in a run. He soon scored himself, too.
That late flurry contributed to an 8-0 Angels win that maintained a game-and-a-half lead in the AL West, but the focus after the game was on Ohtani and Ohtani alone.
"I hope you don't start taking that for granted, like it's old hat," Maddon said. "It's just so unusual. It's otherworldly on this level of this game."
Ohtani's start had been delayed by two days due to groin tightness, with the reigning AL MVP revealing he was "pretty fatigued", yet it was worth the wait.
Coming at Fenway Park – "one of my favorite ballparks," Ohtani said – there were inevitable comparisons to 1910s Red Sox legend Babe Ruth, arguably the greatest player of all time.
And Red Sox starter Rich Hill acknowledged it may now take another 100 years for anyone to match Ohtani's feats.
"He's the best player in the league," Hill said. "I think that's one thing everybody can pretty much unanimously agree upon.
"It's pretty special to see somebody like that come along. I think everybody should be really appreciating what we're seeing, because it’s something we haven't seen in 100 years and we may never see it again for another 100 years."
Jaiswal, Kohli tons put India on the verge of win against Australia
Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli bagged magnificent centuries to put India in a commanding position on day three of their first Test match against Australia in Perth.
India declared in a dominant position of 487-6 after Jaiswal (161) built on their 172-0 at stumps on day two and former captain Kohli (100 not out) added quick runs with his first century in 16 months coming up during the final hour.
The tourists then wreaked havoc with the ball in five overs before stumps as captain Jasprit Bumrah dismissed debutant Nathan McSweeney (zero) and Marnus Labuschagne (three) before nightwatchman Cummins (two) fell to Mohammed Siraj with the score at 12, as the hosts trail by 521 runs with seven wickets in hand.
Earlier in the Test, India had scored 150 batting first before bundling out Australia for 104 in the first innings.
Jaiswal resumed his innings at 90 on the third day and brought up his century in the first hour before KL Rahul departed for 77 after an opening-wicket partnership of 201.
The centurion fell as India's third wicket at 313-3 as Australia picked up three wickets in the space of eight runs, but Kohli reached his ton with help from Washington Sundar (29) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (38 not out) as India asserted their dominance.
Girona 4-1 Espanyol: Miovski bags double as hosts ride on first-half blitz
Bojan Miovski scored twice as Girona thrashed Espanyol 4-1 in LaLiga at Estadi Municipal de Montilivi on Saturday.
Bryan Gil and Ladislav Krejci were also on the scoresheet as the home side raced to a 4-0 lead inside the first half hour, with Javi Puado scoring the visiting side's only goal after the break.
After the match was halted because of a fan being taken ill in the crowd, Gil opened the scoring when he unleashed a stunning long-range strike into the bottom corner with four minutes on the clock.
Gil was behind the second goal for Michel's side too, as he capitalised on a defensive error and crossed to Miovski, who made it 2-0 in the 16th minute before the pair combined again for a third five minutes later.
Donny van de Beek's header from Yaser Asprilla's corner was pushed in by Krejci for Girona's fourth in the 27th minute.
Espanyol got a consolation goal 10 minutes into the second half when Puado hit a long-range strike that found the back of Paulo Gazzaniga's net.
Girona, last season's surprise package, climbed to fifth in LaLiga with 21 points, while Espanyol are 19th and in the relegation zone with 10 points.
Milan 0-0 Juventus: Bianconeri maintain unbeaten start after Rossoneri stalemate
Milan and Juventus shared the spoils following a dour goalless draw at San Siro.
The Bianconeri maintained their unbeaten start to the Serie A season, but missed the chance to go second behind leaders Inter after a game lacking in quality and chances.
With the likes of Dusan Vlahovic and Arkadiusz Milik out injured, Juventus began the game without a recognised striker, as Teun Koopmeiners and Weston McKennie led the line.
Koopmeiners hit the side-netting from a tight angle after 10 minutes, while Kenan Yildiz grazed the post following a fine individual run midway through the half.
Alvaro Morata had Milan's best chance at the other end, but the former Juventus striker could only head wide from Rafael Leao's free-kick.
Opportunities did not fall as freely in the second half either, and both teams left the field to a chorus of boos on the referee's final whistle.
Data Debrief: Stubborn Juve take clean sheet tally into double figures
Juve are the first team to register 10 clean sheets in their opening 13 matches of a Serie A season since Roma (also 10) in 2013-14.
The Bianconeri have also kept five clean sheets in their first six away league games in a campaign for only the fourth time, also achieving the feat in 1967-68, 2004-05, 2023-24.
Meanwhile, Thiago Motta is only the fifth Juventus manager to go unbeaten in his first 13 league matches in charge (won six, drawn seven), after Jesse Carver, Cestmir Vycpalek, Antonio Conte and Maurizio Sarri.
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