Shohei Ohtani flirts with no-no as Angels drop A's

Shohei Ohtani's bid for a no-hitter ended with two outs in the eighth inning, but the Los Angeles Angels' two-way player settled for eight scoreless innings in a 4-2 victory over the Oakland A's on Thursday night in Anaheim, Calif. Oakland's Conner Capel singled to center on a 1-2 cutter with two outs in the eighth inning on Ohtani's 95th pitch of the night to break up the no-hitter. Dermis Garcia followed with a single, but Ohtani got out of the inning when he retired Shea Langeliers on a grounder to third. Ohtani (15-8) began the game by walking A's leadoff hitter Tony Kemp on a full-count pitch before completely taking command of the Oakland lineup. He struck out Vimael Machin, then got Sean Murphy to hit into an inning-ending double play to finish the first. Ohtani followed that up by retiring the side in order in the second through seventh innings, including striking out the side in the fourth. In all, he struck out 10 and now has 213 strikeouts in 161 innings this season. Ohtani, who lowered his ERA to 2.35, was replaced by reliever Aaron Loup to start the ninth inning, having made 108 pitches. It was the 10th time in his 27 starts this season that Ohtani threw 100 pitches or more. He has not had a complete game in his major league career. Ohtani also went 2-for-4 at the plate, including an RBI single, and extended his career-best hitting streak to 14 games. The Angels took the lead on the second pitch from A's starter Cole Irvin (9-13). Leadoff hitter Luis Rengifo socked a fastball over the fence in left-center for a 1-0 lead. It was his 16th long ball of the year. Mike Trout followed with a double and scored on a single by Ohtani, putting the Angels up 2-0. Taylor Ward's solo homer -- his 23rd homer of the season -- with one out in the third increased the Angels' lead to 3-0, and Max Stassi's home run leading off the sixth made it 4-0. Stassi has nine homers on the year. Oakland scored twice in the ninth inning against Loup and Ryan Tepera, who recorded the final out and earned his fifth save. --Field Level Media