Shohei Ohtani blasts 2 homers, Mike Trout hits 1 in Angels’ blowout

Ohtani hits his 31st and 32nd homers of the season, and Trout hits his 30th. Left-hander José Suarez works seven scoreless innings, allowing just three hits in a 10-0 victory over the Tigers.

ANAHEIM — For a night, the Angels showed what they could look like when all is going right.

Shohei Ohtani hit two homers, Mike Trout hit one and José Suarez pitched seven innings in the Angels’ 10-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Monday night, the kind of game that has been all too rare in this disappointing season.

“The pitching staff has been unbelievable all year,” Trout said. “We had some rough stretches on the offensive side, but it’s good to see when both sides click.”

The Angels’ pitchers are tied for ninth in the majors with a 3.77 ERA, but they’ve been losing because they rank 26th in the majors in OPS. The lineup has lacked depth, but on Monday night they got big performances by the stars and other players throughout the lineup.

Ohtani ripped a double off the right field fence in his first trip in the first inning. In the third, he blasted a two-run homer over the right field fence. In the seventh, he hit one out to left-center field, his 32nd homer of the season.

Ohtani actually had a shot at his third homer when he was facing infielder Kody Clemens, the son of Roger Clemens. Ohtani was called out on strikes, as he watched a 68 mph floater nip the outside corner. Clemens then smiled, pumped his fist, and tossed the ball out of play to keep as a souvenir.

“I was just throwing it in there and I got to two strikes. I was like, ‘Oh my god, this might happen. Who knows?’” Clemens said. “And I threw it, 60-whatever miles an hour, and luckily he took it.”

Ohtani finished the night with an OPS of .899, which is the highest it’s been at the end of a game all season. As Ohtani makes a final push for a second straight American League MVP award, he has a 1.103 OPS with 10 homers since Aug. 4.

“He’s a special baseball player over there,” Trout said. “It’s gonna be a crazy stretch these next (27) games we’ve got. It’s fun to watch.”

Ohtani’s first homer drove in Trout, who had doubled. Trout singled in the first and yanked a homer in the fifth, his 30th homer of the season.

Trout has now hit .302 with a .972 OPS in 16 games since he returned from missing a month with a back injury. For the season, he has a .968 OPS.

“Everyone talks like, ‘Whoa down year,’” Manager Phil Nevin said. “He’s got a .960 OPS. That’s pretty good for a down year and for a guy that played hurt for a long time. … He’s still one of the best players in the game.”

The Angels have two of the best players in the game, but until this season they hadn’t been able to sync up their big offensive seasons. This is the first time in the five seasons they’ve been together when each has hit 30 homers. Trout was injured for most of 2021 and 2020 was the pandemic-shortened season.

Aside from Trout and Ohtani, the Angels also got four hits out of Luis Rengifo, two hits from Matt Duffy and two hits and a sacrifice fly from Taylor Ward.

All of that provided a nice cushion for Suarez to cruise. He gave up three hits and one walk, striking out seven.

He did not allow a hit until the third, when Victor Reyes hit a bouncer that skipped under the backhand attempt of Rengifo, the third baseman. Suarez also gave up a bloop single to Willy Castro in the sixth. In the seventh, Spencer Torkelson hit a line drive off the right field fence.

For the game, Suarez threw just 92 pitches, including 16 changeups. The Tigers swung and missed on six of their 11 offerings at his changeup. Since the All-Star break, Suarez added a second changeup to his arsenal, and it’s been the key change that has helped him to a 1.76 ERA over his seven starts.

Suarez now has a 3.77 ERA this season, after posting a 3.75 mark last season.

Andrew Wantz and Zack Weiss worked the final two innings to finish the Angels’ 17th shutout of the season, which is tied with the New York Mets for the most in the majors.

“We did a lot of things well tonight, starting with Suarez setting the tone,” Nevin said. “That’s one of the better ones I’ve seen him throw. He was locating and had everything working. His velocity was up. The changeup was good.”

A Shohei Ohtani LASER. pic.twitter.com/gnf3zAYYTK

— MLB (@MLB) September 6, 2022

3⃣0⃣ for @MikeTrout! pic.twitter.com/AXiK0xI6eA

— MLB (@MLB) September 6, 2022

SHOHEI OHTANI. ANOTHER ONE. pic.twitter.com/zBMdiUGKHB

— MLB (@MLB) September 6, 2022