Shohei Ohtani added another highlight to his amazing June with the longest home run of his major league career on Friday night, becoming the ninth player to reach 30 homers in a season by July 1.
It was only a solo shot, though, and not enough for the Los Angeles Angels to overcome a grand slam by Arizona’s Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
Gurriel’s second-inning drive into the Angels’ bullpen in left field was the decisive blow in the Diamondbacks’ 6-2 victory Friday night.
Ohtani drove a slider from left-hander Tommy Henry 493 feet to right field in the sixth inning to get the Angels within 5-1. It was the longest home run in the majors this year.
“It was loud. I’ll leave it at that. I didn’t watch it. I don’t really like to watch home runs. It didn’t feel good leaving the hands,” said Henry, who struck out a career-high eight and allowed only one run on four hits in 5 2/3 innings.
The two-way superstar from Japan became the first player since Baltimore’s Chris Davis in 2013 to hit 30 homers by the end of June. Davis had 31.
Babe Ruth, Ken Griffey Jr. and Sammy Sosa each did it twice. The others are Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Luis Gonzalez and Albert Pujols. Bonds had 39 by July 1 in 2001 en route to setting the single-season record with 73.
“I hear of all these 500-(foot) shots that guys had in the past. I know the calculations before and now are a little different but I don’t think there’s going to be a ball hit further than that one,” Angels manager Phil Nevin said. “Awesome. I mean, he had a great night with two walks and the home run. That kind of gives you some energy and we got some runners on after that. We just couldn’t get a big hit.”
Ohtani hit 15 home runs in June. Besides being an Angels record for the most in any month, he tied Babe Ruth (1930 Yankees), Bob Johnson (1934 A’s) and Roger Maris (1961 Yankees) for the AL mark in June.
“Falling behind 1-0 to a guy like that, I tried to get back in the zone. Throwing a slider over the middle of the plate is not in the game plan,” Henry said after improving his record to 5-1. “Thankfully, for the offense, it was a four-run game at that point, let the water roll off the back and get right back to it.”
Gurriel hit his sixth career slam when he drove a full-count slider from Griffin Canning (6-3) into the Angels’ bullpen in left field. Gurriel cleared the bases after Canning issued walks to Jake McCarthy, Geraldo Perdomo and Ketel Marte — all with two outs.
“I was patient,” Gurriel said through an interpreter. “I didn’t see enough quality pitches before the at-bat, so I just waited for my pitch.”
Gurriel also scored Arizona’s first run in the first inning when Evan Longoria lined a base hit to left field.
Canning went six innings and gave up five runs on three hits. He struck out nine, but the four walks proved costly.
“My college coach called it a bloody-nose pitcher. You kind of get punched in the face and then you’re ready to go out and compete. So that was a little bit of what tonight was,” Canning said about rebounding after struggling early.
Going the distance
Ohtani’s three longest homers have come at Angel Stadium. His previous best was a 470-foot drive off Kansas City’s Kris Bubic in 2021. It was also Ohtani’s fifth long ball this week.
Reporting by the Associated Press.
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