By this point, given how routine he’s made the extraordinary, it should be pretty difficult for Shohei Ohtani to wow a crowd. But that didn’t stop him from doing the incredible on Monday night against the Orioles
Ohtani, who also served as the Angels’ starting pitcher, stepped to the plate in the top of the fifth inning and crushed a ball over all of the seats in right field, drawing stunned reactions from the Orioles’ home crowd and breaking a 4–4 tie to give himself the lead.
SHOHEI OHTANI. GONE 💥
(via @MLB)pic.twitter.com/9tCjMUxn1E
— SI MLB (@si_mlb) May 15, 2023
Statcast measured the blast at 456 feet, making it the farthest home run Ohtani has ever hit in a game where he pitched and the fifth-farthest overall of his career, per MLB.com’s Brent Maguire. It was his third time reaching base through the game’s first four innings.
Ohtani wasn’t the sharpest he’s ever been on the mound, surrendering three homers on the night for the first time all season. But when he hits tape-measure blasts like that one, he’ll surely be forgiven by his teammates for not quite having his A-game on the mound.
