ANAHEIM — The last time Shohei Ohtani pitched against Mike Trout, there was a title on the line.
With Samurai Japan on the cusp of winning the 2023 World Baseball Classic over Team USA, the stage was set for an electric matchup between two of the game’s biggest superstars. Ohtani on the mound for the save. Trout at the plate as his team’s final out.
After working a full count, Trout swung through a sweeper, and Ohtani skipped off the mound, victorious.
“I think as a baseball [fan], everybody wanted to see it,” Trout said afterward. “He won round one.”
It took more than two years for a rematch to take place, because after the Classic, Ohtani and Trout returned to the Angels and shared a clubhouse for the sixth season. After leaving for the Dodgers in free agency, Ohtani was exclusively a hitter while recovering from a second major elbow surgery in 2024.
It wasn’t until Wednesday night’s 6-5 Dodgers loss that Ohtani pitched against the Angels for the first time in his career. Ohtani handily won rounds two and three vs. Trout, striking him out looking twice — the first on a sweeper, the latter on 100.7 mph heat — but gave up a season-high four runs while pitching into the fifth inning for the first time this year.
It was the first pitcher-batter matchup between two three-time MVPs in Major League history.
“I felt like I executed really well in the two at-bats against him,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. “Just looking back at my outing today, it’s about execution. When I didn’t execute, they took advantage.”
It had been nearly two years since Ohtani last took the mound at Angel Stadium. His final pitching start with the Angels on Aug. 23, 2023, was cut short when he tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing arm.
But before Ohtani toed the rubber against his former team for the first time, he had to fulfill his duties as the Dodgers’ leadoff hitter.
Ohtani became the first starting pitcher since at least 1900 to lead off a game with a triple, and he scored on a base hit from Mookie Betts. Ohtani has more time to catch his breath in between two-way duties on the road compared with at home, where he has roughly two minutes to go from the mound to the batter’s box in the first inning. His teammates bought him some more time — almost too much.
Will Smith went deep to give the Dodgers a three-run lead in the first, and the line kept moving. The Dodgers were one batter away from Ohtani needing to step into the on-deck circle for a second time before he had even thrown a pitch, but Kyle Hendricks retired the side before it got to that point.
All but two members of Wednesday’s Angels starting lineup were former teammates of Ohtani, so most of them had yet to step in against him in a game situation. Ohtani retired the side in order in the first, then gave up a pair of runs in the second after surrendering a leadoff homer to Taylor Ward and a double to Yoán Moncada, who came around to score on a sacrifice fly.
Ohtani didn’t have much trouble in the third and fourth, but after he struck out his seventh batter to open the fifth, the Angels were on the attack. Logan O’Hoppe and Bryce Teodosio hit back-to-back singles, and Zach Neto drove them both in with a double, ending Ohtani’s night after 4 1/3 innings.
“It was just a matter of getting him on the plate,” Neto said. “He had his stuff working. It was electric, especially my first at-bat, him striking me out. It was pretty tough. So it was just a matter of getting my pitch, which was going to be his mistake, and not missing it. And that’s what I did.”
It was a Freeway Series to forget for the Dodgers, who left Anaheim having ceded sole possession of first place in the NL West to the Padres. But for Ohtani, there was some meaning in returning to the ballpark that he called home for his first six big league seasons.
“I had a lot of good memories being in this stadium. It’s one of my favorite stadiums to play in,” Ohtani said. “So it was a really important mark for me to be able to pitch on this mound again.”
