ANAHEIM, Calif. – Shohei Ohtani hurled a baseball at 160 km / h at the top of the first, then hit a baseball at 180 km / h half inning later, an exciting start to a historic Sunday night for the sensation bidirectional from the Los Angeles Angels.
Ohtani, pitching and hitting the same game for the first time in his career, withdrew three of the first four hitters from the Chicago White Sox he faced in the top half of the first inning, throwing three three-digit pitches – including a 101 Fastball mph to Adam Eaton, which was followed by an unpleasant divider in the land to record a strikeout.
In the bottom half, Ohtani turned on the first pitch he saw from the right-handed Dylan Cease of the White Sox – a 160 km / h high ball at chest height – and threw it 451 feet into the right field, giving himself some initial support of racing.
Ohtani’s throw to Eaton (officially 160 km / h) was the quickest throw of any starting pitcher this season, and his home run (with an outlet speed of 115.2 mph) was the most hit home run of the season by any player.
Ohtani, who underwent Tommy John surgery after his debut season, has accumulated just 53⅓ pitches since his major league debut in 2018. But Angels coach Joe Maddon made a commitment to him as a two-way player in 2021 and lifted much of the restrictions that were placed earlier, which prevented him from joining the team the day before, the day after and the day he started.
On Sunday, he became the first starting pitcher to hit second in a game since Jack Dunleavy in 1903.