The Los Angeles Angels won’t trade Shohei Ohtani before Tuesday’s trade deadline.
The two-way superstar, arguably the best player in baseball history, showed why the Angels made the right decision in Game 1 of Thursday’s doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers.
The Tigers lost, 6-0, to the Angels in the second of three games in the series because of Ohtani’s masterpiece on the mound. He pitched a complete-game shutout, giving up one hit and three walks, while facing the minimum 23 batters through 7⅔ innings.
Ohtani, who recorded his first-ever complete game and first-ever shutout, threw a pitch in the ninth inning for the first time in his 83-start career. He needed 111 pitches to get through all nine innings.
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The Tigers (46-56) didn’t get a hit until the fifth inning.
Kerry Carpenter ripped Ohtani’s two-strike 97.9 mph four-seam fastball into center field for a single to start the fifth inning. The Angels immediately erased Carpenter’s presence on the bases when Matt Vierling grounded into a double play.
In the sixth inning, Zack Short worked a one-out walk on six pitches. Once again, Ohtani eliminated the runner on first base when Eric Haase grounded into a double play to end the inning.
Ohtani retired the first 12 batters he faced.
Spencer Torkelson worked a four-pitch walk with two outs in the seventh inning, but Ohtani bounced back by striking out Carpenter on three pitches — 98.4 mph four-seam fastball (called strike), 85.7 mph sweeper (called strike) and 81.5 mph curveball (swinging strike) — for the third out.
The Tigers created an opportunity in the eighth inning with a leadoff walk from Matt Vierling, only to let Ohtani off the hook in his final inning. Javier Báez grounded out, Akil Baddoo grounded out and Short popped out.
Ohtani retired the Tigers in order in the bottom of the ninth inning with Haase’s lineout, Zach McKinstry’s strikeout and Riley Greene’s lineout.
Ohtani, who struck out eight batters as a pitcher, finished 0-for-5 with two strikeouts as a hitter in Game 1. On the mound, he threw 71 pitches for strikes and generated 13 whiffs with six fastballs, five sweepers, one curveball and one splitter.
His fastball averaged 96.9 mph and maxed out at 99.5 mph.
His final start
Right-hander Michael Lorenzen pitched five innings for the Tigers, throwing 88 pitches, in his final start before Tuesday’s trade deadline. He is expected to be traded to a postseason contender before the 6 p.m. deadline.
The 31-year-old allowed three runs on five hits and one walk with seven strikeouts.
Lorenzen struck out Ohtani — caught looking at a down-and-away 94.8 mph four-seam for a called-third strike — in the first inning. Lorenzen and Ohtani were teammates with the Angels in the 2022 season.
The Angels scored one run in the second inning and two runs in the fourth inning.
A single from Mike Moustakas and a double by Hunter Renfroe put two runners in scoring position for Trey Cabbage, who delivered a sacrifice fly. The sac fly put the Angels ahead, 1-0, in the second inning.
The Angels increased their lead to 3-0 on Cabbage’s two-run single in the fourth inning, set up by another single from Moustakas and another double by Renfroe. Cabbage hit a fastball for his sacrifice fly and a slider for the two-run single.
Lorenzen threw 33 four-seam fastballs (38%), 30 sliders (34%), 18 changeups (20%), six sinkers (7%) and one sweeper (1%). He generated 16 whiffs with six fastballs, eight sliders and two changeups.
He has a 3.58 ERA in 18 starts.
Bullying Logue
The Angels tacked on three more runs against left-handed reliever Zach Logue, powered by a pair of home runs from Taylor Ward.
In the sixth inning, Ward launched a third-pitch down-and-in changeup for a 376-foot two-run home run into the Tigers’ bullpen in left-center field. Mickey Moniak, who doubled to start the inning, also scored on the long ball.
Ward struck again in the eighth inning for his 14th home run. He hammered a fourth-pitch fastball, clocked at 92.1 mph, at the top of the strike zone for a solo homer to right-center field.
Logue allowed three runs on six hits and zero walks with five strikeouts in four innings, throwing 42 of 58 pitches for strikes. He has surrendered three home runs in 11 innings over three games with the Tigers this season.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.