Angels’ Shohei Ohtani earns win in historic All-Star debut

DENVER — Over the past couple of months, Shohei Ohtani seems to have been mastering the art of easing off the gas and pitching.

But when the eyes of the baseball world were on him in the All-Star Game on Tuesday night, the Angels’ two-way star didn’t hold anything back.

Working the first inning of the American League’s 5-2 victory in the All-Star Game, Ohtani reached triple-digits with his fastball for the first time in more than three months. It was part of the show he put on as the first player ever elected to an All-Star team as a pitcher and a hitter.

“I was only going one inning, so I didn’t have to think about going further into the game,” Ohtani said through his interpreter “Just let it rip.”

St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado, who was at the plate when Ohtani unleashed that 100.2-mph pitch, was told later that it was the first time in months Ohtani had done that.

“Of course he did,” Arenado said with a chuckle. “He’s as good as advertised. … He’s incredible.”

Ohtani ended up as the winning pitcher because the American League took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second.

Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr., the 22-year-old son of the former Angels outfielder, rocked Coors Field with a 468-foot home run and was named the game’s MVP, the youngest one ever.

Guerrero, whose father homered off Brad Penny in the 2006 All-Star Game, put the American League ahead 2-0 in the third inning when he crushed a slider from Milwaukee’s Corbin Burnes that landed in the last row of the left field bleachers. He added a run-scoring groundout in the fifth that made it 3-0 and the American League held on for its eighth consecutive victory. The AL has now won 20 of the last 23 All-Star Games with one tie thrown in.

So even with the teams decked out in new uniforms that social media deemed a strikeout instead of a home run, it was a familiar result. Tampa Bay catcher Mike Zunino also connected for the AL as it improved to 46-43-2 overall in the series. Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto homered for the National League.

Near and far, the sport’s entire focus – and that of many of the 49,184 in attendance – was on Ohtani from the start.

Players on both sides climbed to the dugout rails to watch him, though he came up empty in two trips to the plate, grounding out against Max Scherzer and grounding out again when he faced Burnes.

That was enough for Ohtani, who had already exerted plenty of energy as the first pitcher ever to compete in the Home Run Derby a night earlier.

The Dodgers’ Max Muncy, who knows first-hand the difficulty of competing in a Home Run Derby and also of playing in the thin air in Denver, said that combination made Ohtani’s performance even more impressive.

“It’s incredible,” Muncy said. “The fact that he’s actually able to play the day after the Derby last night. … This is a tough place to play. It’s hard to breathe here. You get tired really quick. You could see last night they got gassed pretty quick. For him to be able to come back and pitch today, it’s pretty incredible.”

Muncy was one of the three hitters to face Ohtani, grounding out against him as the National League’s DH and No. 2 hitter. Ohtani also got Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. on a flyout.

The average of Ohtani’s seven fastballs was 98.1 mph. He also threw four sliders, two splitters and a cutter on his way to a routine, 14-pitch inning. During the regular season, he’s averaged 95.5 mph.

Ohtani was interested in putting on a show. That’s why he agreed to the exhausting triple-play of the Derby, pitching and hitting in the game.

But he had no regrets.

“It definitely is a lot more tiring than the regular season,” said Ohtani, who said he slept until 10:30 a.m. following a full day Monday.

“It was a lot more tiring compared to the regular season, but if everyone had fun I’m good with it,” he said. “But everyone had fun. … It was definitely more fun than nervous. I definitely want to be back here.”

Ohtani was pulled for a pinch-hitter in the fifth. Shohei’s shoes, meanwhile, were headed to the Hall of Fame, which collected his cleats, hand guard and foot guard for display in Cooperstown.

Ohtani’s teammate, Angels first baseman Jared Walsh, actually made his All-Star debut playing left field. Walsh, who had never played left in the majors, made a sliding catch to end the top of the eighth inning.

Walsh said he found out a day earlier that he would play left field, and it was “a little nerve-wracking,” but he handled a difficult chance flawlessly.

“I hope Joe Maddon wasn’t watching,” Walsh joked of his Angels manager. “I like first base a lot more than left field.”

At the plate, Walsh was hitless in two at-bats, with a pair of fly balls to Dodgers center fielder Chris Taylor. The first was routine and the second sent Taylor racing back to the warning track.

Taylor came up empty in two trips to the plate in his first All-Star Game.

Muncy also went hitless in two at-bats, and his teammate Justin Turner had a single in his two trips as the designated hitter after Muncy.

Dodgers right-hander Walker Buehler did not pitch in the game.

Aside from the Dodgers and Angels, the only two players with L.A. area ties to play in the All-Star Game were Atlanta Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman (El Modena High) and Arenado (El Toro High).

New York Yankees right-hander Gerrit Cole (Orange Lutheran, UCLA) and Cleveland Indians right-hander Shane Bieber (Laguna Hills High, UC Santa Barbara) were on hand for the event but inactive.

The Angels’ Mike Trout (strained calf) and the Dodgers’ Mookie Betts (various nagging injuries) were also selected to the game but did not even travel to Denver to participate in the events.

Trout certainly has has already seen plenty of what Ohtani showed to the rest of the baseball world on the big stage. He’s hoping eventually he’ll have a bigger one, though.

“I think so far this has been the most memorable experience of my career,” Ohtani said. “Obviously I’ve never played in the playoffs or World Series. Once I do that’s probably going to surpass it. But for now this is it.”