Shohei Ohtani Pitches Perfect Into Sixth Inning

It seems as if each time he steps on the mound there’s some new accomplishment that Shohei Ohtani achieves. Wednesday evening it was a perfect game against the Astros, which he took into the sixth inning.

“Yeah I knew (I had a perfect game), but my pitch count was getting up there, so I wasn’t sure if I would’ve been able to finish it,” he said after the game.

As usual, Ohtani worked his magic at the plate, too; he started the game, an eventual 6-0 Angels win, with a leadoff walk, then came around to score a few batters later.

Houston starter Jake Odorizzi was so off that the Angels were able to bat around in the first inning, en route to a 3-0 lead. Odorizzi was pulled a batter before Ohtani had his second plate appearance of the inning, which ended in a two-run double.

Ohtani was absolutely rolling until the sixth. He got Niko Goodrum to strikeout on six pitches, which gave him a career-high-tying 12 Ks. Jason Castro, who, coincidentally, used to catch Ohtani in 2020 when he was briefly an Angel, ruined the fun with a single—the Astros’ lone hit of the night.

He was pulled after the sixth, having thrown 81 pitches (55 for strikes) over six innings with the one hit and one walk.

“Obviously they have a great lineup, so I just wanted it take it one batter at a time and try to get one out at a time,” Ohtani said.

“I actually didn’t realize that it was a perfect game,” Castro said after the game. “I knew there was a no hitter, but I was not 100% sure if somebody walked or not, but obviously you wanna break that up as quickly as you can. (Ohtani is) an incredibly gifted player on both sides of the ball. He was definitely on tonight.”