Shohei Ohtani (LA Angels), who also doubles as a pitcher, stopped hitting at 36 games in a row against the Boston Red Sox. The record set by Ichiro Suzuki for the most consecutive games played by a Japanese player in the Major League (MLB) has also been broken.
On the 17th (Korean time), Ohtani started as the designated hitter in the 2023 major league away game against Boston held at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, and recorded no hits in 4 at-bats.
Ohtani, who stepped away with a shortstop grounder in the first at-bat, was out with a fly ball to right field, a ground ball to second baseman, and a fly ball to left field in the next three at-bats. Ohtani’s batting average fell from 0.313 to 0.288메이저사이트.
With this, Ohtani’s streak of consecutive games on base, which continued before the Cleveland Guardians on September 15 last year, was stopped at 36 games.
This is tied for the 5th most consecutive Japanese players in major league history.
The top four spots are all records set by Ichiro Suzuki, who had 43 consecutive on-base records, the most in 2009 for a Japanese player.
If Ohtani had been on base in all eight games, including the game that day, he could have changed Ichiro’s record in 14 years, but he failed because he was tied tightly to Boston starting pitcher Garrett Wittlock.
Whitlock pitched 7 innings with 3 hits, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts and 1 run, completely blocking Ohtani and the Angels’ batting line.
With Ohtani silenced, the Angels lost to Boston 1-2 and fell into a three-game losing streak. With 7 wins and 8 losses, the difference between wins and losses was -1.
The Angels will have Ohtani as their starting pitcher in the final game of their 4-game road trip against Boston on the 18th. Ohtani has appeared in three games as a pitcher, recording two wins, an average ERA of 0.47, and 24 strikeouts.