Ohtani, who leads the majors with 30 home runs and had gone deep four times this week, was 0 for 2, along with being intentionally walked twice for the first time in his big-league career. He is also the first Angels player in six years not named Mike Trout to get a pair of intentional passes in a game.
Both times it happened there was a runner on third base. Anthony Rendon couldn’t take advantage though as he went 0 for 4 and struck out twice.
Until Trout returns from his calf injury sometime after the All-Star break, Maddon said he might look at adjusting the order to try to protect Ohtani. But Maddon also noted that the strategy depends on what the other team is doing. Baltimore’s pitching staff has the highest ERA in the majors at 5.47.
“You can’t blame the other other team for doing that. So it’s up to us now to make the appropriate change,” Maddon said.
Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said that intentionally walking Ohtani was their way of limiting the damage.
“There’s no disrespect to Rendon who I’ve seen too many times over the years get huge hits. I think he’s a great player and a really good hitter. Just right now Ohtani is breathing on a planet and playing a different game than the rest of us,” Hyde said.
David Fletcher’s leadoff single in the first gave him a new career high hitting streak at 17 games. It also tied him with Houston’s José Altuve (May 5-23) for the longest in the AL this season. Fletcher is batting .388 (26/67) with six doubles and eight RBI’s during his streak.
