Shohei Ohtani strikes out 11 as Angels defeat White Sox

Shohei Ohtani’s presence on the mound almost certainly means something incredible will happen for the Angels. Through his 11-strikeout performance Wednesday, he delivered another dominant start for the team in need of all the good it can get.

He also extended his scoreless innings streak to 21 2/3 innings and has racked up 24 strikeouts in his last two outings.

The Angels defeated the White Sox 4-1 at Angel Stadium to take two of three games in the series.

The White Sox elevated Ohtani’s pitch count early, making him work through 79 pitches before he was able to get strikeout No. 9 in the fifth inning. Still, he endured, blanking the White Sox through 52/3 innings, giving up five hits and one walk over 108 pitches, 74 of which were strikes.

In the first inning, White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson and first baseman Jose Abreu worked singles off Ohtani. But the traffic on the bases didn’t make it past second base as Ohtani got all three of his outs on swinging strikeouts.

He got through the second and third innings inducing easy outs and adding three more strikeouts to his total. The fourth inning was when Ohtani ran into some trouble.

The first batter of the inning, Luis Robert, hit a grounder down the third-base line. Tyler Wade made quick work on the play, diving to make the grab but couldn’t beat Robert’s hustle to the bag with his throw. Abreu got another single off Ohtani before he was able to get the first out of the inning. The second out, a strikeout by AJ Pollock, helped calm Ohtani, but he then walked Leury Garcia to load the bases. Ohtani made sure his next batter, Josh Harrison, would be his last of the fourth, and he delivered his eighth strikeout.

He cruised through the fifth inning before that pitch count started to weigh on him. He labored trying to get just two outs in the sixth, stepping off the mound and talking to catcher Max Stassi to get a few moments of rest between batters. When he finally got strikeout No. 11, he looked as if he knew it was all he had left.

He walked off the mound and into the dugout to a standing ovation from the crowd of 27,612.

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Thanks to the top of the Angels’ order in the first inning, the team was also able to get out to an early 2-0 lead. Taylor Ward, who reached on a single, was driven home by Mike Trout’s double in the next at-bat. Ohtani worked a walk to reach base, then Jared Walsh’s grounder allowed Trout to score after a fielding error by Chicago starter Michael Kopech.

The Angels made it 4-0 on Luis Rengifo’s two-run home run in the sixth inning.

The White Sox scored their only run of the game, courtesy of Robert, in the eighth inning after a wild pitch by Ryan Tepera.

What are the odds?

The Angels’ season went so wrong so fast.

They rode high into May, flashing a 27-17 record with significant odds at making the playoffs. In 14 games, those odds went from abundant ( 77%, per FanGraphs) to unlikely ( 22%) by the last loss of that record slump.

Before Wednesday’s final game of a three-game series with the Chicago White Sox, the Angels’ odds at making the playoffs were at 15%, after going 9-10 since the losing streak ended.

At 36-41 before Wednesday and with a series against division leader Houston coming up, the more pressing question isn’t whether the Angels will make the playoffs. It’s whether t they’ll even finish above .500.

OK, so maybe being a .500 team this season means landing a wild-card spot with the expanded playoffs, but that’s a different debate.

Technically, the Angels have the time to make up ground. Baseball’s season isn’t officially halfway over, but context is everything.

The Angels couldn’t win their series against the Kansas City Royals, who showed up to Angel Stadium a 23-42 team. They also couldn’t win their second series against the Seattle Mariners.

The Angels were able to win the series against the White Sox, but if they can’t consistently beat the teams they’re statistically supposed to beat, then winning against the leaders in their division and league becomes a tall order.

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