Shohei Ohtani Ties Babe Ruth's Record

Toyoko had been waiting patiently for the opportunity to see Shohei Ohtani pitch in person. Well, that day arrived yesterday, against our hometown team the Oakland Athletics. 

We only found out a couple of days ago that Ohtani would be pitching on Tuesday, so we had to scramble to get good tickets. We decided to try the secondary ticket market for tickets using the Stubhub app on my iPhone to see what tickets were available. Well, there were plenty of seats available, but not that many really good seats to choose from. 

So we had a decision to make. Should we get seats in the Field Box section, or a section behind the plate? The Field Box seats are physically closer to the field than the seats behind the plate, so that was an important factor in the decision. In the end, we decided on the Field Box seats.

When we arrived at the Field Box section, we were greeted by a nice man that explained what was included as part of our "Field Box Package."  We were given a wrist band with three tear-away numbers on it. Each number represented a free alcoholic drink. That was a bit of a waste because we don't drink, but the good news was that an unlimited number of soft drinks were included in the package.

Next, we were each given a bag of peanuts, and a bag of Cracker Jacks. The gentleman went on to explain that we were going to receive a hot dog in the second inning, a small pizza in the fourth inning, and a candy treat in the seventh inning. Wow, we had no idea that all this stuff was included with the Field Box seat!

So we were very content with our seats, and then the game started!

The LA Angel's lineup had Ohtani batting second. The Angels scored a run in the third inning, but it was in the fifth inning that they broke the game open. After singles by Steven Dugger and Ohtani, Tyler Ward hit a bomb to left field. That gave the Angels a comfortable 4-0 lead. 

Manager Phil Nevin decided to take Ohtani out after the sixth inning. He probably thought the 4 run lead would be enough to win against the light-hitting A's. Ohtani continued as the designated hitter, and led off the seventh inning.  On the first pitch hit a long blast to right field for his 25th homer of the year. That padded the lead to 5 runs. I think A's fans were at the same time deflated and elated, as they got a chance to see the MVP hit a homer even though he was from the other team.

Ohtani was scheduled to have one more at bat in the ninth inning, but Phil Gosslin pinch hit for him. That caused the crowd to boo vociferously, as they wanted to see Ohtani bat one more time. 

The A's scored one run in the ninth inning on Chad Pinder's home run, but it would not be enough. 

We hung around after the game, as did quite a few Ohtani fans, hoping to see their idol come out of the dugout and wave to the crowd. Alas, that did not happen, and slowly the crowd dispersed. But they went home happy. They saw history. Ohtani tied a record that Babe Ruth had held for many decades, which was 10 wins as a pitcher and 10 home runs as a hitter. Ohtani got his tenth win this evening to tie the record, and I suspect he will break the record in his next start. We'll be watching that historic game too, but only on TV!