The Los Angeles Angels defeated the Chicago White Sox 12-5 (box score) in Wednesday's rubber game thanks to some impressive hitting by -- who else? -- the superstar tandem of Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout.
Ohtani and Trout combined for three hits, all home runs, as well as six runs batted in. (Both were lifted in the latter stages of the game.) There are different kinds of home runs, of course. We want to clarify that you should not read "home run" and assume these were cheapies that just squeaked over the wall. Oh no. Folks, these were legitimate, big-time blasts.
Take a look at all three home runs in their moving picture glory:
Trout's home run traveled 461 feet, according to Statcast. Ohtani's two carried 459 and 425 feet apiece. Ohtani had also hit a home run on Tuesday night that was measured at 435 feet. Add it all up and Trout and Ohtani hit 1,780 feet worth of home runs within a 24-hour span.
Trout entered Wednesday hitting .277/.366/.510 (138 OPS+) with 12 home runs and 29 runs batted in over his first 232 plate appearances. Ohtani, for his part, had hit .263/.338/.507 (129 OPS+) with 13 home runs and 34 runs batted in across 239 trips to the plate. Believe it or not, both are underperforming relative to their career OPS+ entering the season.
With the Angels rounding out the victory, they've improved to 30-27 on the season. That puts them at least 6 1/2 games back in the American League West, albeit in sole possession of third place. For those wondering, the Angels started last season with a 27-30 record. They then finished on a 46-59 stretch that removed them from contention.
