Shohei Ohtani’s return to Anaheim could not have gone much worse for the Angels.
Shohei Ohtani played against his former team, the Los Angeles Angels, earlier this season at Dodger Stadium, and even played against them in Spring Training exhibition games at Angel Stadium. Those games, though, were not the same as what Tuesday brought.
Let’s just say Ohtani’s big return didn’t go the way Angels fans wanted it to.
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Shohei Ohtani’s Anaheim return was worst-case scenario for Angels fans
Shohei Ohtani receives a standing ovation from the fans at Angel Stadium. There were a couple boos, MVP chants, and a group of Dodger fans chanting “thank you Angels” pic.twitter.com/vvu8vFhOxZ
— Darren M. Haynes (@DarrenMHaynes) September 4, 2024
The night began with just a hint of disrespect. Ohtani led off the game for the Dodgers and mostly received an ovation from the crowd, but there was a smattering of boos as well. Dodgers fans were sure to rub in the Angels’ failure to re-sign the two-time MVP winner by chanting “Thank you, Angels.”
The first at-bat went well for Angels fans. Reid Detmers, in his first MLB start since June 1, got Ohtani to ground out weakly to first base for the first out of the night.
The Angels actually scored the first run of this game but Ohtani was sure to get it back in his second at-bat, drilling a game-tying triple down the right-field line to even the score at 1-1. A Mookie Betts RBI single drove in Ohtani to give the Dodgers the lead.
A game-tying triple for Shohei Ohtani 😤 pic.twitter.com/NXFu3vq0Xq
— MLB (@MLB) September 4, 2024
Taylor Ward’s fifth-inning home run tied the game again, and then the bullpens wound up taking complete control. The Angels did not have a base runner past the fifth inning, and the Dodgers went over five innings without a hit until Miguel Rojas gave them the lead with a run-scoring single in the top of the tenth inning.
The Angels letting the bottom of the Dodgers lineup do damage set themselves up for the worst-case scenario, with their lethal top-of-the-order looming. Ohtani stepped up to the plate for the fifth time on Tuesday with a runner at second base and two outs. Rather than have Roansy Contreras face him, the Angels picked their poison and walked Ohtani intentionally to face Mookie Betts, another one of the best hitters in the game.
That decision backfired spectacularly, as Betts launched a three-run homer to effectively ice the game. The Dodgers would win it by a final score of 6-2.
The decision to walk Ohtani (something Angels fans are far too familiar with) only to face a hitter like Betts in a winnable game that turned into a loss was an extremely frustrating outcome for Angels fans. Walker Buehler was sure to rub it in their faces, too.
“Yeah it’s a tough situation to walk a guy that got 700 (million dollars) to get to the guy that got 350. He’s pretty good at baseball, too.” 2/2
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) September 4, 2024
As Buehler notes, there really isn’t a right answer here. The Angels chose to walk the guy making $700 million by facing the guy making half of that. The problem is, though, the guy making significantly less is pretty good at baseball too. The Angels learned that the hard way.
Nothing about this game was great for the Angels other than Detmers pitching pretty well in his return. Ohtani tripled, scored two runs, and got the last laugh in a Dodgers win. The Dodgers are competing for a World Series, while the Angels are one of the worst teams in baseball. It’s an unfortunate situation all around for Angels fans, and Tuesday night was the latest reminder.
