Ohtani hits 44th HR, but Astros tag him in win over Angels

HOUSTON (AP) — Shohei Ohtani hit his major league-leading 44th home run, but got tagged early by José Altuve, Alex Bregman and the Houston Astros in a 10-5 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night.

Ohtani (9-2) had been 8-0 in his last 13 starts since May 28, and gave himself a lead when he hit a solo homer in the first inning.

But the two-way sensation yielded six runs on a career-high nine hits in 3 1/3 innings.

“I feel like they were sitting on my cutters and sliders for the most part,” Ohtani said through a translator. “Before I could make adjustments, I had runners on base all the time, and I couldn’t really try out new things.”

Altuve and Bregman were a combined 5 for 5 against Ohtani.

“That’s not a guy you would like to face all the time,” Houston manager Dusty Baker said of Ohtani. “We were putting some good at-bats together, hit some balls hard early. … It was good to get him out of the game pitching and get him out and his bat, which is as potent as his pitching is.”

Bregman, who had four RBIs, Altuve and Carlos Correa each had three hits for the AL West leaders.

“I think we did a good job of controlling the strike zone,” Bregman said. "He's got amazing stuff. I think we did a good job of looking for pitches we wanted to hit and put good swings on them.”

Bregman, who extended his hit streak to 10 games, had an RBI single as part of a three-run third and a two-run double as part of a six-run fourth as the Astros built a 9-4 lead. He also had a sacrifice fly in the seventh.

Since returning from the injured list on Aug. 25, Bregman is 19 for 40.

“He’s a special hitter, special player,” Correa said. “He seems to get that timing real quick. He’s simple at the plate, doesn’t try to do too much, and that’s...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Ohtani-hits-44th-HR-but-Astros-tag-him-in-win-16450752.php