Ohtani (2 HR), Trout (461-foot HR) put on show in series finale

CHICAGO -- When asked about Shohei Ohtani's impressive power following his 433-foot home run Tuesday, manager Phil Nevin noted Ohtani can and has hit the ball even farther.

Case in point: Wednesday’s 12-5 win over the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Ohtani went deep in back-to-back innings off starter Lance Lynn, crushing a 425-foot two-run blast in the third inning and a 459-foot solo homer in the fourth, according to Statcast.

But Ohtani’s second blast wasn’t even the Angels’ longest on the day. Mike Trout crushed a 461 foot two-run homer in the first inning to jump-start the Angels’ offense in the series-clinching win on the South Side.

“Usually when it happens,” Trout said of the duo going deep in the same game, “we’re in a good spot to win.”

Indeed. Wednesday was the 27th time it’s happened, and fifth this season. The Angels are 19-8 in those games and 5-0 this year.

“You definitely want to limit the plate appearances those guys get,” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said.

Ohtani has been in a slump offensively the past two weeks, slashing .148/.220/.370 over his past 14 games, entering Wednesday. But Tuesday’s home run may have been one sign a big performance was not far away.

He wasted no time against Lynn in the third inning, driving a first-pitch, four-seam fastball 107.0 mph off the bat and out to center field for his first long ball of the day.

The next inning, Lynn fell behind 2-0, worked back into a 2-2 count and then ran it full. He left another four-seamer in the strike zone, this one up-and-in, and Ohtani hit it 111.8 mph off the bat and over the right field wall.

“You guys still want me to give him a day off?” Nevin joked after Wednesday’s win. “He’d been swinging it all right before [Tuesday]. You kind of see some things coming. A few really good swings the last couple days.”

According to Statcast, Ohtani’s second homer is tied for the fifth longest of his career. He also hit one 459 feet on the Fourth of July in 2021.

“I’m feeling good right now, putting things on pitches that I should be hitting hard,” Ohtani said through interpreter Ippei Mizuhara. “The last walk I drew, I felt really good about that too.”

Ohtani was asked whether something changed mechanically to lock him back in at the plate.

“The most important thing for me is my setup and how I'm seeing the ball in my setup,” he said. “As long as that's fine, I think everything's good.”

In this particular instance, he noticed the height he was gripping the bat was off.

Meanwhile, Trout’s 461-foot homer is his eighth-longest during the Statcast era (2015-present). Lynn hung him a 1-2 curveball, and he hit it 110.8 mph to give the Angels a 2-0 lead in the first.

The Angels scored 12 runs Wednesday and hit five homers -- Taylor Ward and Chad Wallach also went deep -- and got a strong outing from Jaime Barría, who tossed five innings of four-hit, one-run ball in his second start of the season.

Barría has worn a lot of different hats for the Angels, and while his readiness and willingness to pitch in any role has stood out, what he’s done on the mound has, too. He has a 1.59 ERA in 13 games (two starts) this season.

“He’s earned this opportunity,” Nevin said. “He’s pitched his butt off, works and has never complained about anything, any role he’s been in. … He’s been used in a lot of different ways, but he certainly earned this opportunity and is making the most of it.”

It all started with Trout and Ohtani on Wednesday, and the same goes for their lineup day in and day out. And when they set the tone like they did, it has a palpable effect inside the Angels’ dugout.

“It’s more of a mindset for the guys, you know what I mean?” Nevin said. “When those two guys are rolling like that, and you have a game where they both get one out of there -- Shohei two of them -- the dugout atmosphere is just different.

“It’s just the way it is. I mean, those are the guys you lean on, and we're going to need them a lot. And games like today are why they are who they are. They can certainly put teams on their back and carry us. They did that today.”