The San Francisco Giants’ final game in Anaheim was perhaps their most daunting one. They’d face likely American League MVP Shohei Ohtani not just as designated hitter, but as the starting pitcher.
In an eventual 4-1 loss on Wednesday night at Angel Stadium, Ohtani wasn’t the Giants’ destroyer. An increasingly anemic offense did them in. The Giants went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and left 10 on base.
The Giants couldn’t take advantage of a rare off-night for Ohtani, who couldn’t quite find his release point and struggled to locate his fastball. Meanwhile his counterpart, Sean Manaea, was pitching one of his most dominant outings of the season as the featured pitcher following opener Ryan Walker. With a one-run lead, the Giants looked like they could escape with a series victory behind their versatile left-handed pitcher.
But the margin for error was too slim. Manaea had held the Angels hitless through four innings with six strikeouts until Luis Rengifo’s double to lead off the sixth inning.
Reliever Tristan Beck couldn’t close the gates; Brandon Drury singled and Joc Pederson’s ball fumble allowed Rengifo to score. Then Ohtani was intentionally walked and Mike Moustakas pummeled a home run into right field for a three-run home run to give the Angels a three-run lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
It was a rare misstep for oft-optioned Beck, who hasn’t given up more than two earned runs since he gave up three in a June 25 outing against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
“That sweeper has been so good and he surprisingly left that one up that Drury was able to drive to left field and the same could be said for the one to Moustakas,” manager Gabe Kapler told reporters.”I think he wants to get that pitch underneath the zone and both of those guys put good swings on the ball.”
The Giants scored their only run on a Brandon Crawford sacrifice fly in the second inning. With Ohtani falling behind in counts, the Giants ran up his pitch count and applied pressure to a shaky Angels defense.
Michael Conforto hit a ground-rule double to lead off and Patrick Bailey walked to set the table for Crawford. Angels catcher Matt Thaiss gave them a hand with a failed pick-off attempt at second base — he hurled the ball to get a trailing Crawford with no infielder within two feet of the bag.
Ohtani used 32 pitches that inning, but the one run was unearned as the Giants couldn’t capitalize on the strategic edge. With the win, Ohtani became the first player in MLB history with at least 40 home runs and 10 wins. He went six innings and allowed one unearned run on three hits with three walks and five strikeouts.
The Giants’ have now lost 10 of the past 11 road games, including a pair of losses to the last-place Oakland A’s. They return home for a three-game series starting Friday against former Giants manager Bruce Bochy’s first-place Texas Rangers.