Ohtani's moonshot clouded by rocky pitching in pivotal inning

May 31st, 2023

CHICAGO -- The Guaranteed Rate Field crowd let out a loud "Ohhhhh!" with the crack of ’s bat in the first inning Tuesday, when the Angels superstar drove a 93.4 mph four-seam fastball from Lucas Giolito to center field.

Fans on the South Side have been budding with anticipation every time Ohtani has come to the plate the past two days. The slugger gave it a good ride before Luis Robert Jr. hauled in the 356-foot fly ball in front of the warning track.

Ohtani made sure to hit it just a little further his next time up. He crushed a 435-foot solo homer to dead center in the fourth inning, giving the Angels a brief one-run lead in an eventual 7-3 loss to the White Sox.

Ohtani has been in a bit of a slump at the plate recently. He entered the day 7-for-50 with a .140/.218/.320 slash line, four walks and 17 strikeouts over his past 13 games.

“He's human,” Angels manager Phil Nevin said. “Guys go through things like this. He’s been pitched well, obviously. He's just missed some here and there, which happens.”

Ohtani ensured it didn’t happen in two straight plate appearances Tuesday. His homer in the fourth was an absolute moonshot with a 110.2 mph exit velocity. It had a 30-degree launch angle and a 6.2-second hang time, according to Statcast.

The blast, which nearly cleared the first section of hedges beyond the center-field fence, is Ohtani’s third-longest home run this season.

“Good to see him get into one tonight,” Nevin said.

After the Angels tacked on another run in the fourth on Gio Urshela’s sac fly, the White Sox came out swinging in the bottom half of the inning against starter . The first three Chicago hitters reached -- Robert doubled, Eloy Jiménez singled and Yoán Moncada walked to load the bases.

Andrew Vaughn needed just one pitch to clear the bases with a double, giving the White Sox a 4-3 lead.

“Some pitches up in the zone, really falling behind,” Nevin said. “With his stuff, [Anderson’s] got to get ahead of hitters and off balance, and [he] just left a few pitches up. The one to Vaughn with the bases loaded hurts, right? You want to try to get the ball on the ground, and [he] just left one up in the zone.”

Anderson fell behind Robert 2-0, and two pitches later, the White Sox center fielder went down and got an 80-mph changeup below the zone. He also fell behind Moncada 2-0 before walking him on five pitches to load the bases.

“I just feel like it was a couple of pitches there,” Anderson said about the fourth inning. “The Robert double, not a terrible pitch. Trying to go get the leadoff guy out. And then you fall behind to Moncada, and I think to myself, ‘All right, you have a chance here. Don't give in. If he gets on, you get a chance for a double-play ground ball or a comebacker or something, get the lead out at home now on a force.’”

When Vaughn came up, though, he jumped on the first offering from Anderson, a 79.7 mph changeup belt-high on the outer half. He hit a one-hop double off the left-center-field wall.

“Knowing he's aggressive and probably going to swing, I’d throw him a changeup again there, probably,” Anderson said. “It was just a little up, and he just put a good swing on it. He was obviously looking for it, sitting in that situation. He put a good swing. I think other than that, that’s the turning point in the game there.”

The White Sox added two more runs that inning on a Romy Gonzalez RBI double and Gonzalez's run scored on Urshela's error as Gonzalez stole third base. Anderson was charged with six earned runs, tying a season high, over four innings, matching his shortest start of the year.

Anderson was coming off one of his best starts this season on May 24 against the Red Sox, and he had posted a 3.14 ERA across 28 2/3 innings in his past five outings.

Tuesday’s performance was the worst of those outings results-wise, but it was one the left-hander said he can still build on going forward.

“It's frustrating,” Anderson said. “But I mean, it sounds kind of ironic to say, but I felt like I was in a better spot -- probably one of the best spots I've been all year in terms of my pitches, my delivery and being able to throw quality pitches. So if I can build on that, I'm OK with it."