ANAHEIM -- Glenn Otto’s MLB debut on Aug. 27 was something of a storybook outing. Though the Rangers lost to the Astros, the Houston-native struck out seven and tossed five shutout innings against his hometown team.

The same couldn’t be said for his second big league game. In Friday's 3-2 loss to the Angels, Otto went just 4 2/3 innings, allowing two runs in the first frame at Angel Stadium.

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Otto, the Rangers’ No. 24-ranked prospect, per MLB Pipeline, settled in well after that and faced the minimum over the next three innings. He was pulled with two outs in the fourth inning with Shohei Ohtani coming to the plate with runners on first and third.

“After that first inning, I just really wanted to get back in the dugout, and kind of hit the refresh button,” Otto said.  “I wanted to go out and start over and get back into attack mode. I was able to do that and get the team 3 2/3 more innings. That was big after that first inning. It didn't look great, but I was able to go out and just compete and pitch to my strengths.”

Otto said his slider command wasn’t all there, which allowed the Angels hitters to foul off a lot more balls than the Astros did in his first start. He pointed to that as the main reason for his struggles in the first inning. 

“I need to be able to stick to my plan, pitch smart and pitch to my strengths,” Otto said. “[With my slider], I was trying to do a little bit too much with it, not trusting it. I’m looking forward to continuing to the next start and coming back to command that pitch.”

Otto was at 36 pitches at the conclusion of the first inning. Rangers manager Chris Woodward said that had he not gotten Brandon Marsh to ground out to end the inning, he would have gotten the hook before the next batter with Hyeon-Jong Yang warming up in the bullpen.

Otto didn’t know that and Woodward let him stay in the game. Woodward added that despite the outcome, he felt like Otto did a lot of things well during his outing.

The skipper was pleased with Otto’s ability to face that adversity and stay calm through it to get into the fifth inning.

“He’s a starting pitcher, he's going to make 30 or so starts a year and there is going to be adversity,” Woodward said. “Even the great pitchers sometimes give up a couple of runs. They’ve got to bounce back and he didn't really seem to be bothered by anything. … I think it might be in his DNA. He doesn't seem to get too emotional out there. He's very composed. I’ve seen veteran pitchers who get squirrely out there. It’s in his DNA to not get rattled. That just allows them to execute and allows them to stay focused.”

Otto has now taken a no-decision in both of his big league starts. Despite the struggles against the Angels, he still struck out four in 4 2/3 innings. He has 11 strikeouts and one walk through his 9 2/3 Major League innings.

Otto said he felt like he learned a lot about himself with this start, maybe even more than with his debut. Being able to face good, professional hitters, along with a bit of adversity, and come up having only allowed two runs was big for him.

The Rangers’ offense wasn’t able to muster much of anything with Ohtani on the mound. A two-run homer from Orange County native Jason Martin in the second inning accounted for the only runs Texas plated against the MVP candidate.

Listen, we pressured him,” Woodward said of Ohtani. “Obviously in the second or third he made a pretty good pitch to Jason Martin. But he's got good stuff. He reaches back when he needs to get 100 a few times. The slider and the curveball the cutter, he threw a lot of those obviously. He's just good, man. He's always composed out there. He executes pitches. And he’s got amazing stuff.”