Home Care In Homer, LA

Shohei Ohtani left the mound muttering to himself after his 97th and final pitch ended the sixth inning. He even unleashed a yell of frustration when he reached the dugout steps.

On a night that drained him physically and mentally, the Angels’ two-way superstar fought through fatigue to victory — and even made one more bit of baseball history.

Ohtani allowed one unearned run over six innings of three-hit ball, and he earned his 10th victory of the season after Mike Moustakas hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in Los Angeles’ 4-1 win over the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday night.

Ohtani (10-5) surpassed Babe Ruth in yet another measure of two-way transcendence at the Big A, becoming the first player in major league history to have multiple seasons with both 10 victories and 10 homers. He’s also the only player to record 10 mound wins and 40 homers in the same MLB season.

Angels

Aug. 4, 2023

The achievements barely registered to Ohtani, who acknowledged he was tired and struggling in his latest dominant performance. The Angels’ training staff visited him on the mound in the sixth before he closed it out.

“I was pretty frustrated with the way I was pitching,” Ohtani said through his translator. “I didn’t really feel right throughout the whole game.”

After the game, Ohtani even acknowledged he might consider taking a day off — something he has been loathe to do, particularly with Mike Trout out of the Angels’ lineup since July 3 with a broken hand.

“I think everyone is going through the peak of their fatigue right now, around this time of the year,” Ohtani said. “I’m not the only one. Going into an off day tomorrow, I’ll see how I feel the next day, and if I feel like I need a day or two, I’ll talk to the team about it.”

Ohtani is reluctant to rest because he is realistic about the chances of earning his first major league postseason appearance with the Angels (58-58), who finished their homestand with back-to-back wins after a seven-game skid imperiled their playoff chances. The Angels are seven games out of the final wild card spot with 46 games to play.

“I know it’s not extremely high right now, but there’s obviously a possibility there,” Ohtani said. “We’re trying our best every game. We’re trying to get some wins, and we’ve got two in a row now.”

Ohtani hasn’t allowed an earned run in 19 innings over his last three starts, but the AL MVP front-runner had to grind against the Giants’ tenacious lineup while issuing three walks and striking out five. The major league homers leader also walked twice and struck out twice at the plate, scoring a run in the Angels’ decisive four-run rally.

Luis Rengifo doubled and scored the tying run on Brandon Drury’s single before Moustakas hammered a no-doubt homer to right.

Ohtani threw 13 consecutive scoreless innings in his last two starts, a one-hitter in Detroit followed by a homestand-opening appearance against Seattle that ended after only four innings because of hand cramping. Ohtani and the Angels both said he was fine to take his normal turn in the rotation again, and he quickly proved it.

But the Giants extended several early at-bats against Ohtani, and they went ahead with an unearned run in the second when Michael Conforto doubled, advanced on catcher Matt Thaiss’ ill-conceived pickoff attempt and scored on Brandon Crawford’s flyout. Ohtani threw 47 pitches in the first two innings before settling down.

“I think it’s fair to say he didn’t have his best stuff, but he just fought hard and competed the whole game,” Thaiss said. “That’s what aces do.”

Moustakas homered off rookie Tristan Beck (3-1), who took his first major league loss. The Giants have lost four of five.

“I think [Beck] wants to get that pitch [to Moustakas] underneath the zone, but both [Moustakas and Drury] put good swings on the ball,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said.

After blowing his past two save opportunities in spectacular fashion, All-Star closer Carlos Estévez hung on to secure his 24th save. Moustakas made a slick fielding play on Thairo Estrada’s hard-hit grounder to third with runners on the corners.

The 34-year-old Moustakas has become an Anaheim fan favorite and a clutch performer since coming home to his native Los Angeles area in a trade with Colorado, hitting seven homers with 23 RBIs in just 33 games for the Halos.

“I’m finally healthy and not fighting any injuries, so I’m able to play at the level I’m used to playing at,” Moustakas said. “The fun part of being in these games is having a chance to drive big runs in. I love being in those situations and getting the job done.”

LOS ANGELES — Mookie Betts set a Dodgers record for leadoff home runs and Teoscar Hernández added his first two long balls for Los Angeles in a 6-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night.

Betts hit his 29th leadoff homer for the Dodgers on the first pitch from Zack Thompson (0-1).

Bobby Miller (1-0) struck out a career-high 11, allowing two hits and a walk in six innings, and Evan Phillips pitched a perfect ninth for his second save.

“I think that even a calendar year ago, (Miller) wasn't able to command the fastball like he was,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “You know 100 (mph) is still 100, but if it's over the middle of the plate, these guys can hit it. Now the command is there like a polished seasoned veteran.”

Betts, in his fifth season with the Dodgers after a trade from the Boston Red Sox, broke a tie for leadoff homers with Davey Lopes, who played for Los Angeles from 1972-81.

Betts moved into sole possession of fifth place on the major leagues’ leadoff home run list with his 49th, breaking a tie with Ian Kinsler. Betts trails Rickey Henderson (81), George Springer (57), Alfonso Soriano (54) and Craig Biggio (53).

Betts’ home run to left was nearly identical to the one he hit Thursday in the Dodgers’ home opener. He has home runs in three consecutive games. A seven-time All-Star and the 2018 AL MVP, Betts has 255 home runs in 11 seasons, hitting a career-high 39 last year.

Hernández, who signed a $23.5 million contract, hit a solo homer in the second over the bullpen gate to the opposite field in right, then hit a three-run drive in the fourth that bounced off the top of the left-center field wall and into the stands for a 5-0 lead.

“When you’ve got a good lineup it’s always fun,” Hernandez said about anchoring the bottom half of the order, with Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman at the top. “But it’s not about the lineup. It’s about the team and the whole team is good. That’s the thing that we’ve showed, that we’re going to do this year.”

Miguel Rojas added his first home run of the season in the seventh off Giovanny Gallegos. Rojas didn't hit his first last season until Aug. 2.

Thompson (0-1) gave up five runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings as the Cardinals dropped to 0-2. Nolan Gorman had a two-run double in a three-run eighth.

Despite his final pitching line, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol liked what he saw from Thompson, against the loaded Dodgers' lineup.

“He made a couple of pitches that they got a hold of, but other than that, he got ahead of guys, he got into his secondary stuff, his slider was in the zone, mixing in some changeups and curveballs,” Marmol said. “He kept his composure even when things didn't go his way and I though he did a really nice job. I like where's at.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: RHP Sonny Gray threw a three-inning, 36-pitch simulated game and is scheduled to start Wednesday for Triple-A Memphis as he moves closer to a return from a hamstring injury. ... OF Lars Nootbaar (ribs) is scheduled to play in a simulated game Saturday. ... OF Tommy Edman is scheduled for a follow-up MRI on his wrist in order to be cleared to start taking swings. ... RHP Keynan Middleton is scheduled to start a throwing program Wednesday.

Dodgers: RHP Walker Buehler, who has not been on a major league mound since June 2022 after Tommy John surgery and a flexor tendon repair, is set to pitch four or five innings for Triple-A Oklahoma City at Tacoma. ... RHP Blake Treinen (bruised lung) still has not thrown off of a mound since the club was in South Korea last week.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: RHP Lance Lynn is set to make his first start in his return for his initial big league team on Saturday as he faces the club he pitched for at the end of 2023.

Dodgers: RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto is set to make his home debut after he lasted just one inning and gave up five runs last week against San Diego Padres in Seoul.

Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz is one of the most gifted and electric players in the game, and Monday night against the Milwaukee Brewers (CIN 10, MIL 8), De La Cruz showed off his power and his speed with a pair of home runs. He hit a titanic outside-the-park homer and a thrilling inside-the-park homer in back-to-back at-bats to help lead his team to victory.

First came the outside-the-park homer. In the fifth inning, De La Cruz clobbered a 450-foot home run off the batter's eye at Great American Ball Park. J.B. Bukauskas caught too much of the plate with a 94 mph heater and good gravy De La Cruz did not miss it:

The 450-foot homer is the fourth longest home run of the young season. The great Mike Trout holds the top spot with a 473-foot-blast.

Two innings later, De La Cruz hit what initially looked like a routine line drive single to center against lefty Bryan Hudson, but Sal Frelick missed the diving catch, and the ball rolled all the way to the warning track. De La Cruz raced around the bases and the throw in hit the pitcher's mound, so there was no play at the plate. Look at the speed:

De La Cruz is the first player with an inside-the-park homer and an outside-the-park homer in the same game since Amed Rosario, then with the Cleveland Guardians, did it against the Kansas City Royals on Aug. 31, 2021. And De La Cruz did it from both sides of the plate! He hit the batter's eye left-handed and raced around the bases as a right-handed hitter.

When it was all said and done, De La Cruz went 3-for-4 with the two home runs, four runs scored, two runs driven in, and a stolen base Monday night. It was his first multi-hit game of 2024 and it raised his season batting line from .242/.324/.394 to .297/.366/.595.

"I feel great when I'm running the bases. That's electric," De La Cruz said after the game. "That's electrifying for the whole stadium and that's what I like. The fans like that. And I like it."

CHICAGO -- Bryan De La Cruz did not necessarily agree with the Marlins’ plan for him in the ninth inning of Game 1 of Saturday’s doubleheader against the Cubs. So the 27-year-old took matters into his own hands.

“I’m not going to say he called it, but he kind of called it,” said manager Skip Schumaker of De La Cruz’ go-ahead two-run homer in the ninth that propelled the Marlins to a 3-2 win at Wrigley Field.

Miami trailed Chicago 2-1 in the ninth Saturday afternoon and was up against Cubs closer Adbert Alzolay. Before De La Cruz’s plate appearance, Marlins bench coach Luis Urueta laid out the plan.

“We were going to pinch run for him, and he said we don’t need a pinch runner,” Schumaker said.

Said De La Cruz via interpreter Will Nadal: “I told them, ‘What do you mean a pinch runner? I'm going to get a homer here, and you're not going to need to do that.’”

After a Luis Arraez single, Alzolay fell behind De La Cruz 2-0, throwing a sinker and slider down and away. He came back with a sinker on the inner half.

“Really, his best pitch is the sinker,” De La Cruz said of Alzolay. “I feel like the best pitch that I can hit is the sinker. So at that point, it’s really 50-50 the way it would go. I think in that instance, the way his sinker went, that was 70-30 for me there, the advantage.”

De La Cruz hit the 94.9 mph Alzolay offering 104.3 mph off the bat and a Statcast-projected 397 feet to left-center field for the go-ahead homer. He stopped to admire the drive for several seconds, then flipped his bat and repeatedly pointed at the Marlins' dugout.

No pinch-runner needed, indeed.

“He’s feeling really good at the plate,” Schumaker said. “He had good at-bats all game long.”

De La Cruz walked in the first inning, and in the fifth came just shy of hitting a go-ahead grand slam off Javier Assad. He instead settled for a 345-foot sac fly to the left-field wall to cut the Marlins’ deficit to 2-1.

With the homer, De La Cruz became the first Marlin to tally at least one extra-base hit and one RBI in seven straight games since Jorge Cantú (Sept. 9-19, 2008). He’s recorded a hit in 18 of the Marlins’ 21 games this season and has a team-leading 25 knocks.

“I’m just feeling really good at the plate right now, thankfully,” De La Cruz said. “Things are going well, thanks to God. It’s something I’m preparing for. … I think it’s the consistency that I’ve developed. It’s that routine that I keep going every time. I think that’s what’s getting me the results right now.”

De La Cruz’s big swing followed Jesús Luzardo’s first quality start this season. The lefty allowed three hits and two runs in six innings, walking three with six strikeouts.

The Cubs’ only damage off Luzardo came in the third, when he threw 35 of his 104 pitches and four of Chicago’s first five hitters reached. That stretch included a two-run triple by Patrick Wisdom, but Luzardo did not allow further damage.

In his first four starts, opponents hit Luzardo much harder the second time through the batting order (.419/.486/.968, 36 plate appearances) compared to the first time (.100/.222/.133, 36 PAs). The Cubs’ rally in the third came on their second time through.

Luzardo credited a conversation with pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre after the third to help get back on the track and finish the afternoon strong.

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“Just got to get in the zone and keep attacking,” Luzardo said of that conversation. “And I feel like my mentality kind of changed. Just trust the stuff and let them hit it.”

Luzardo faced the minimum over his final three innings. Dansby Swanson reached on an error in the sixth, but he was caught trying to steal.

Saturday afternoon was a continuation of an impressive start to De La Cruz’s season, while the Marlins hope Luzardo's outing proves to be something he builds off.

“I feel like I had two not-so-bad [starts] early, and then two really bad ones after that,” Luzardo said. “This one just gets my feet back under me. Longest outing of the year for me and a stepping stone for me moving forward.”

Said Schumaker: “We know he’s a dude, and he’s acting like the dude. I don’t know what it was the last couple of starts, but that’s more of the ace that we’re used to.”

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Tim Stebbins is a reporter/producer for MLB.com.

CINCINNATI -- There was already a total solar eclipse over Great American Ball Park on Monday afternoon. That evening against the Brewers, Elly De La Cruz hit a home-run ball that seemed high enough to create a total lunar eclipse, too.

That home run was itself eclipsed by an even more exciting moment when De La Cruz hit the first inside-the-park homer of his career. Both homers proved critical in Cincinnati's 10-8 victory over Milwaukee.

“I feel great when I’m running the bases. That’s electric," De La Cruz said. "That’s electrifying for the whole stadium and that’s what I like. The fans like that. And I like it.”

You never know what you're going to see when De La Cruz is in a game. That point was underscored once again.

According to OptaStats, the 22-year-old switch-hitting shortstop became the first player in AL/NL history to homer from both sides of the plate, hit homers both over the fence and inside the park, score at least four runs and steal a base in the same game.

Because of an error by Brewers third baseman Joey Ortiz, De La Cruz also scored from first on a sacrifice bunt by Santiago Espinal during a six-run Reds fourth inning.

Cincinnati opened an 8-0 lead after four innings before the game nearly slipped from its grasp. It was an 8-3 lead in the fifth before De La Cruz launched his 450-foot drive off the batter's eye against Brewers righty reliever J.B. Bukauskas. It was his first homer of the season.

The Reds, who lost 10 of their 13 games against the Brewers in 2023, could take nothing for granted in their first meeting of ‘24. Starter Graham Ashcraft dominated through four scoreless innings, but he surrendered six runs over the fifth and sixth innings to make it a three-run game.

It could have been worse had right Stuart Fairchild not made a leaping catch at the wall to rob Willy Adames of a homer in the sixth.

“It’s so important for us," said De La Cruz, who was 3-for-4 with four runs scored. "We are trying to win games. Milwaukee, they won a lot of games against us last year so we’ve got to beat them. We put in a lot of work and we’re ready [to go] to the World Series.”

Milwaukee closed the gap to one run in the top of the seventh inning on Christian Yelich's two-run homer to left field against reliever Justin Wilson.

With one out in the bottom of the seventh against lefty reliever Bryan Hudson, De La Cruz hit a first-pitch liner to center field. Sal Frelick made a diving attempt, but the ball hopped away from his glove and rolled to the wall.

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“When I saw him missing the ball, I said, ‘I’ll go home no matter what happens,'" De La Cruz said.

By the time right fielder Jackson Chourio retrieved it, De La Cruz had already rounded second base.

Waved around by third-base coach J.R. House as the cutoff throw reached the infield, De La Cruz scored with a headfirst slide as the relay bounced off the mound and to catcher William Contreras.

“Amazing," said designated hitter Will Benson, who hit a second-inning solo home run. "Honestly, I had my eyes glued in on J.R. just to see was he going to wave him or what. As soon as he waved him, I was excited, I knew it was going to be an inside-the-park home run. Incredible.”

“As soon as it got by him, everyone was yelling, ‘home run!’ It’s an exciting play, I think, if you’re a baseball fan and enjoy every second of that," manager David Bell said. "And it wasn’t that many seconds from home-to-home. Every second we did have, we enjoyed it.”

According to Statcast, De La Cruz's sprint speed was 30.1 feet-per-second and he rounded the bases in 14.96 seconds. It was the second two-homer game of De La Cruz's short career and first since Sept. 26, 2023, at Cleveland.

In one game, De La Cruz raised his average from .242 to .297. Monday marked his first superlative 2024 performance after a lackluster first nine games in which he struck out 17 times in 33 at-bats. The Reds are hoping this is the spark that gets him going.

“I said this last year. I think Cincinnati is truly blessed with a real superstar," Benson said. "He doesn’t change, regardless of what he’s going through or how he’s playing. It’s a genuine treat to be around an amazing person, an amazing teammate."

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Mark Sheldon has covered the Reds for MLB.com since 2006, and previously covered the Twins from 2001-05. Follow him on Facebook.