Thursday was a very eventful day for Los Angeles Angels prodigy Shohei Ohtani. On the mound, he had his worst start of the young season, allowing five runs in six innings against a lightly offensive Oakland Athletics team (LAA 8, OAK 7). Ohtani gave up two homeruns in the third inningbreaking a 79-inning homerless streak dating back to last August.
It was a much better day for Ohtani at the plate. The 2021 AL MVP went 3 for 5 with a single, a double and a triple. He just needed the home run to complete the cycle, and you know what? Ohtani came damn close and missed a homer by just a few yards in the ninth inning. To look at:
I thought it was off the job. Angels broadcaster Wayne Randazzo certainly thought it was off the track. He broke in on a home run call before the ball landed in Esteury Ruiz’s glove in center field. Randazzo was a good sport about it. How can you not get excited about Ohtani?
The home run would have completed the 15th natural cycle (single, then double, then triple, then homer) in baseball history and the first since Gary Matthews Jr. it did with the Texas Rangers in 2006. It would have been Ohtani’s second career cycle as well; he had one against the Tampa Bay Rays in 2019.
Only one player in baseball history has hit for the cycle and pitched in the same game: Jimmy Ryan with the 1888 Chicago White Stockings. Ryan started in center field and then pitched in relief against the Detroit Wolverines on July 28 of that season. That was long before the AL and NL merged in 1903, the beginning of the modern era.
The three-hit game improved Ohtani’s slash to .278/.343/.526 on the season. He has an 1.85 ERA in six starts, even with the rough outing against the A’s on Thursday.