Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout and Jared Walsh combined to hit four home runs and power the Los Angeles Angels to an 11-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays Monday night in Anaheim, Calif.
Ohtani homered twice, including a grand slam in the seventh inning that was his first in professional baseball, either Japan or the majors.
Walsh hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning that gave the Angels the lead for good. Trout (two-run homer) and Ohtani (solo homer) hit homers on back-to-back pitches in the sixth inning that provided Angels starter Noah Syndergaard and the bullpen all the runs they would need.
Syndergaard (3-1) gave up one run on seven hits and one walk in 5 1/3 innings to get the victory, but he had to work his way through several jams to get there, making 97 pitches. He struck out seven.
In all, the Rays were 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position.
The Angels got most of their production from the top of their lineup, as leadoff hitter Brandon Marsh, No. 2 hitter Trout and No. 3 hitter Ohtani combined for seven of the Angels’ 11 hits.
Wander Franco led the Rays’ offense with three hits.
Randy Arozarena’s solo home run off Syndergaard gave the Rays a lead in the fourth inning, but the advantage lasted only until the bottom of the fourth. Rays starter Jeffrey Springs (1-1) was perfect through three innings, then retired the first batter in the fourth before Trout ended the string with a single.
Ohtani followed with a single, and with two outs, Walsh hit a three-run homer.
In the sixth, Trout hit a two-run homer and on the very next pitch from Rays lefty Jalen Beeks, Ohtani hit his first homer of the night.
The Rays pushed across a couple runs in the top of the seventh, but the Angels responded with five in the bottom of the inning, the last four coming on Ohtani’s slam.
–Field Level Media
