OAKLAND -- Despite Shohei Ohtani’s all-around brilliance to begin his Major League career, the A’s have usually worked as somewhat of a kryptonite for the Angels' Japanese superstar, particularly when facing him at home.

Entering the night, the A’s had somehow managed to make the reigning American League MVP look human, as Ohtani carried a 5.50 ERA in four career starts at the Coliseum. But in Tuesday night’s 5-1 loss to the Angels, Oakland could do nothing but sit back and marvel at the multiple historic feats Ohtani achieved.

Like the fate that has met several teams in 2022, the A’s found themselves on the receiving end of the full Ohtani experience. Held scoreless on just four hits over six innings against Ohtani on the mound, the two-way star later did damage with the bat by clobbering a solo shot off Sam Selman in the seventh.

By the night's end, Ohtani found himself in the company of two legendary baseball figures. His win over the A’s was his 10th of the year -- allowing him to join Babe Ruth as the only two players in AL/NL history to win at least 10 games on the mound and hit at least 10 home runs in the same season, while his home run was the 118th of his MLB career, surpassing Ichiro Suzuki for second-most home runs all-time by a Japanese-born player (trailing only Hideki Mastui's 175).

“It’s exceptional,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said of Ohtani’s record-setting night. “It shows his athleticism. Shows his talent. At this point, you can say it’s one of a kind in the game, because it is. He’s the only player doing it right now, and [he's] doing it well.”

Last week, the A’s found success against Ohtani in a victory at Angel Stadium on the strength of a three-RBI performance by Sean Murphy. In that previous outing, Ohtani relied heavily on his slider, throwing it over 60 times. This time around, while the slider was still Ohtani’s most-thrown pitch, Kotsay noticed a splitter that was mixed in effectively to keep them off-balance. While the A’s had traffic on the bases against Ohtani in all but one of his six innings pitched, that splitter was often his go-to pitch in big spots.

“He had a split-finger tonight that was his equalizer,” Kotsay said. “That pitch, when he tunnels it off the fastball, which he did tonight pretty effectively with success, it’s going to be tough. He showed that ability tonight to take it up a notch when he needed to.”

Vimael Machín is one of the few A’s hitters that appear to see the ball well off Ohtani. After collecting a pair of hits off him in Anaheim, Machín again reached base twice in his three plate appearances against Ohtani on Tuesday. He credits his success at the plate to his ability to see multiple pitches by working counts.

Standing at third base on defense as he watched Ohtani’s ball clear the right-field fence in the seventh, Machín couldn’t help but be amazed at what he was witnessing.

“After that home run, I turned to the umpire and third base coach and was just like, ‘I don’t know how he does it,’” Machín said. “It’s unbelievable. Just being an elite player overall who can throw over 100 mph with nasty offspeed and hit the ball the way he hits it, I can’t even describe that, to be honest. I wish I could do that, too. It’s amazing what he does.”

A’s starter James Kaprielian managed to keep Ohtani in the yard, but a 2-1 fastball that Taylor Ward sent out to deep left for a three-run homer in the fifth was the right-hander's ultimate undoing. Allowing four runs (three earned) on six hits and three walks with six strikeouts over five innings, he wasn’t nearly as crisp as he’d been coming in, holding a 1.89 ERA in his last six starts.

Still, even Kaprielian, who is often hard on himself after what appear to be strong outings, took away positives from his uptick in velocity. His fastball maxed out at 97.6 mph and average 94.8 mph, a sign that his body conditioning is where it needs to be for these final two months of the regular season.

“I’ve made good strides and know it’s in there,” Kaprielian said of his increased velocity. “I feel good. I feel strong. It’s now about continuing to repeat. There’s a lot of things that, every single time I pick up the ball, I feel I’m a step closer to being that guy I know I’m capable of. It’s great to see that. It’s exciting.”