Ohtani makes Halos history with 14th HR in June

ANAHEIM -- What a Sho, indeed.

Shohei Ohtani continued his record-setting June when he crushed his Major League-leading 29th home run of the season in the ninth inning of the Angels' 9-7 loss to the White Sox on Thursday afternoon. The two-way superstar's 438-foot home run was his 14th in June, the most by a Halos player in a single month in franchise history. It broke the record of 13 previously held by Ohtani (June 2021), Albert Pujols (June 2015) and Tim Salmon (June 1996).

"He wows you every day with all the records and everything coming our way," Angels manager Phil Nevin said. "He’s just such a talent, it’s fun to watch."

In Ohtani’s spectacular June, he leads all MLB hitters with 14 home runs, 28 RBIs and a 1.415 OPS. On the mound, he has a 3.26 ERA and 37 strikeouts across 30 1/3 innings. Just two days after his dazzling 10-strikeout, two-homer performance, Ohtani continued his torrid stretch with Thursday’s home run.

It has been, put simply, one of the most impressive months by one of baseball’s most impressive players. Ohtani's historic home run is the finishing touch on what has been an all-time stretch of games.

Fellow superstar Mike Trout, who will join Ohtani as an All-Star in Seattle on July 11 after being voted in as a starter by the fans on Thursday, has simply been in awe of what Ohtani has been doing.

“It’s been an amazing month,” Trout said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it. It’s something we’ll never see again. And I have front row seats watching it. It’s pretty special what he’s doing.”

Overall, Ohtani, 28, is slashing .309/.392/.666 with 29 homers, 15 doubles, five triples, 11 stolen bases and 66 RBIs in 81 games. And in 16 starts on the mound, he's 7-3 with a 3.02 ERA and 127 strikeouts in 95 1/3 innings.

Ohtani, the AL MVP in 2021 and the runner-up last year, is again the front-runner for that honor in '23. And Nevin pointed to the adjustments that Ohtani has been making both at the plate and on the mound. His homer came on a 1-2 slider from right-handed reliever Kendall Graveman -- a pitch that Ohtani had been struggling with earlier this season.

“It came on a pitch we talked about before that he was having trouble with a few weeks ago or a month ago,” Nevin said. “But he’s understanding and studying what pitchers are doing to him. And that was a pretty good pitch on the outer part. He just went with it the other way.”