Shohei Ohtani just had the greatest pitching performance of his career

Shohei Ohtani just showed up to Fenway Park to make history, and he did it in quite a few ways. Sure, he was the first pitcher since Babe Ruth in 1919 to bat in one of the first four spots in the order in Fenway Park, and he was also the first pitcher since Roger Clemens in 1996 to get a base hit as a pitcher in Fenway Park.

That wasn't the only history he made, though. That was the only historical feats he made statistically, but there was more beyond just those two incredible accomplishments. It's that the LA Angels' Ace had what was probably his greatest performance on the mound that he's ever had.

Going seven scoreless innings without walking anybody was impressive. Striking out 11 in the process was heroic. However, throwing 81 strikes out of 99 pitches is just flat-out absurd. It was a career-best for Ohtani, as well as the amount of swings and misses he forced (29)...

That has to be all for Ohtani. It was arguably the best game he's ever pitched in the majors (even though he gave up 5 hits).

7 IP, 0 R, 0 BB, 11 K
99 pitches, 81 strikes (career best pct)
29 whiffs (career high)

The #Angels are up 2-0.
— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) May 5, 2022

It's perplexing to understand why the type of performance the LA Angels got from Shohei Ohtani hasn't been outlawed yet.

LA Angels fans will certainly take it, however, as Shohei Ohtani not only flexed all over the Boston Red Sox in their own stadium, but also did it at both positions. Ohtani added on two base hits on the day in four at-bats while driving in a run and scoring one of his own as well as the three-hole hitter.

One of them was actually a 400-foot single, and the other smoked the Green Monster so hard that it knocked his own number off of the scoreboard:

Shohei Ohtani with the casual 400 foot single ?pic.twitter.com/h5zvXKRkJV
— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) May 5, 2022

Shohei Ohtani out there pitching 7 scoreless innings and knocking numbers out of the Green Monster ???

pic.twitter.com/ZJhSbDEGZg
— Ben Verlander (@BenVerlander) May 5, 2022

It must have made the Red Sox 8-0 loss somehow even more frustrating for them. They were absolutely dominated both at the plate and in the field by one player.

Next. Why the Angels need to call up Michael Stefanic. dark

Ohtani made far too much history for Red Sox fans' liking on Thursday's game, and his pitching outing probably topped the list. Nobody will ever forget when Ohtani threw 81 strikes in 99 pitches to go along with 29 missed bats. He was quite literally untouchable, and he also didn't give out a single free pass. Doing it while also raking in the batter's box; what Ohtani did to the Sox was criminal.

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