Shohei Ohtani surrendered four home runs but earned his eighth win after the Los Angeles Angels responded with their own barrage of bombs to overcome the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-5 on Friday.
The red-hot Halos lineup also homered four times, rallying for five runs in the fourth inning and three more in the fifth to back Ohtani's 6-1/3 inning start. The two-way star struck out nine while allowing five earned runs on six hits, a walk and a hit batsman.
The victory extended the Angels' winning streak to four games as they battle to end an eight-year playoff drought with an American League Wild Card berth.
Hampered by a finger blister in his two previous starts, Ohtani (8-5) made it into the top of the fourth inning at Angel Stadium without trouble before giving up back-to-back homers to Choi Ji Man and Henry Davis.
Ohtani helped the Angels rally back in the home half of the inning, leading off with a walk and sprinting the bases to score on a double from Mickey Moniak. Mike Moustakas launched a three-run blast and Trey Cabbage soloed with his first MLB home run to put the Angels up 5-2 at the end of the fourth.
Ohtani allowed a two-run home run to Jack Suwinski in the top of the fifth, but the Angels batters once again responded immediately. Zach Neto soloed and Taylor Ward scored Ohtani with a two-run shot to make it 8-4 in the bottom of the inning.
Davis led off the sixth with his second home run before Ohtani retired three straight batters to end the frame.
At the plate, Ohtani was unable to add to his MLB-best 35 home runs, finishing 0-for-1 after drawing three walks and scoring two runs.
At Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, Shintaro Fujinami debuted for the Baltimore Orioles in relief against the Tampa Bay Rays. The right-hander pitched the seventh inning in his team's 3-0 loss, giving up a run on Jose Siri's home run and striking out one.
