ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Shohei Ohtani grinned and laughed after Vladimir Guerrero Jr. bounced a single to left field in the Toronto slugger’s first career plate appearance against the Angels’ two-way superstar.
When he struck out Guerrero with a wicked slider two innings later, Ohtani smiled and chuckled at that one, too.
Ohtani had plenty of fun in his first mound meeting with most likely his strongest competitor for the AL MVP award. He also did plenty against the rest of the Blue Jays to secure another win for the Los Angeles Angels.
Ohtani pitched six innings of three-hit ball to win his third consecutive start, and he also doubled and scored an early run in the Angels’ 6-3 victory Thursday night.
Although Ohtani (7-1) issued three walks for the first time since June and threw two wild pitches in his 17th mound start of the season, he allowed just two runs and struck out six to keep his ERA at 2.93.
“I haven’t been feeling really that great, but when I don’t have my best stuff, I’ve been finding ways to get outs and getting through innings,” Ohtani said through a translator. “Physically I feel really good, but I just feel I’m getting better each outing, and I feel like I really haven’t hit my potential yet.”
Guerrero faced Ohtani’s pitching for the first time in their careers, and the majors’ No. 2 home run hitter went 1 for 2 with that bouncing single, a walk and a strikeout against the majors’ leader in homers.
“I had a lot of fun facing him, but not just him,” Ohtani said. “Their whole lineup is really good. They’ve got top-notch hitters, so I had a lot of fun facing all those guys.”
Toronto manger Charlie Montoyo also watched the showdown closely.
“It honestly was just OK,” Montoyo said. “Vladdy right now is struggling a little bit, so he’s not the Vladdy who’s locked in. It’s fun to watch. It’s two guys fighting for the MVP, so it was good to watch.”
Guerrero and Ohtani are among the AL leaders in numerous offensive statistical categories. Guerrero leads Ohtani in OPS (1.123 to 1.017) and RBIs (88 to 84), while Ohtani is ahead of Guerrero in homers (38 to 35) and slugging percentage (.655 to .617).
But Ohtani has dimensions to his game that have never been matched in modern baseball, and Angels manager Joe Maddon said it’s “overtly obvious to me” that Ohtani is the AL MVP.
“There’s no argument against it,” Maddon added. “Vladdy is having a great year, and I really like the kid a lot, but what our guy is doing has never been done before and is unprecedented. That’s where it ends for me, and I’m sure other people feel the same way.”
At the plate, Ohtani hit a 386-foot double off the wall for his major league-leading 68th extra-base hit as Los Angeles’ leadoff hitter in the first. He also walked and scored during the Angels’ four-run second as they split four games with Toronto at the Big A.
Jared Walsh and Kurt Suzuki drove in two runs apiece to back Ohtani, who hasn’t lost in 10 starts since May.
José Berríos (8-6) yielded six runs on eight hits for the Blue Jays while pitching into the fifth inning of his shortest start since mid-April with Minnesota. Toronto lost for just the fourth time in 16 games.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. homered for the second straight game, connecting in the ninth inning. Teoscar Hernández and Randal Grichuk drove in runs in the fourth for Toronto, but Berríos walked four while failing to last five innings for the first time in 20 starts.
After Berríos walked three in the Angels’ four-run second, Suzuki added an RBI double in the third for the fourth multi-RBI game of a season in which he has just 11 total RBIs.
“You always learn from it,” Berríos said. “You can take some good things about tonight, or you can just throw it out and get ready tomorrow to keep working. There were some great hitters out there.”
HOMEFIELD ADVANTAGE
Ohtani improved to 5-0 with a 1.92 ERA in 10 starts at Angel Stadium this season. No pitcher in Angels history had ever gone unbeaten with an ERA under 2.00 in his first 10 home starts in a season. Ohtani is also the first Angels hitter with more than 22 homers in his first 57 home games of a season.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Blue Jays: LF Corey Dickerson left in the fifth with lower back tightness. … SS Bo Bichette missed his second straight game with bruised shins. He’s likely to play Friday. … 3B Cavan Biggio (lower back) began a rehab assignment at Triple-A Buffalo.
Angels: Anthony Rendon will have hip surgery next week to correct an impingement that caused his injury woes this season, the $245 million third baseman said. He is expected to be healthy for spring training.
UP NEXT
Blue Jays: Robbie Ray (9-5, 2.90 ERA) opens a weekend series Friday in Seattle.
Angels: Patrick Sandoval (3-5, 3.39 ERA) takes the mound Friday when Los Angeles begins a weekend home series with the Houston Astros.
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VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Canucks announced Tuesday that defenceman Alex Edler will sign a one-day contract in order to officially retire as a member of the NHL team.
The signing will be part of a celebration of Edler’s career held Oct. 11 when the Canucks host the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Canucks selected Edler, from Ostersund, Sweden, in the third round (91st overall) of the 2004 NHL draft.
He played in 925 career games for the Canucks between the 2006-07 and 2020-21 seasons, ranking fourth in franchise history and first among defencemen.
The 38-year-old leads all Vancouver defencemen with 99 goals, 310 assists and 177 power-play points with the team.
Edler also appeared in 82 career post-season contests with Vancouver and was an integral part of the Canucks’ run to the 2011 Stanley Cup final, putting up 11 points (2-9-11) across 25 games.
“I am humbled and honoured to officially end my career and retire as a member of the Vancouver Canucks,” Edler said in a release. “I consider myself lucky to have started my career with such an outstanding organization, in this amazing city, with the best fans in the NHL. Finishing my NHL career where it all began is something very special for myself and my family.”
Edler played two seasons for Los Angeles in 2021-22 and 2022-23. He did not play in the NHL last season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
The sixth-ranked Canadian women will face World Cup champion Spain in an international friendly next month.
Third-ranked Spain will host Canada on Oct. 25 at Estadio Francisco de la Hera in Almendralejo.
The game will be the first for the Canadian women since the Paris Olympics, where they lost to Germany in a quarterfinal penalty shootout after coach Bev Priestman was sent home and later suspended for a year by FIFA over her part in Canada’s drone-spying scandal.
In announcing the Spain friendly, Canada Soccer said more information on the interim women’s coaching staff for the October window will come later. Assistant coach Andy Spence took charge of the team in Priestman’s absence at the Olympics.
Spain finished fourth in Paris, beaten 1-0 by Germany in the bronze-medal match.
Canada is winless in three previous meetings (0-2-1) with Spain, most recently losing 1-0 at the Arnold Clark Cup in England in February 2022.
The teams played to a scoreless draw in May 2019 in Logroñés, Spain in a warm-up for the 2019 World Cup. Spain won 1-0 in March 2019 at the Algarve Cup in São João da Venda, Portugal.
Spain is a powerhouse in the women’s game these days.
It won the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2022 and was runner-up in 2018. And it ousted Canada 2-1 in the round of 16 of the current U-20 tournament earlier this month in Colombia before falling 1-0 to Japan after extra time in the quarterfinal.
Spain won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2018 and 2022 and has finished on the podium on three other occasions.
FC Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati (2023) and Alexia Putellas (2021 and ’22) have combined to win the last three Women’s Ballon d’Or awards.
And Barcelona has won three of the last four UEFA Women’s Champions League titles.
“We continue to strive to diversify our opponent pool while maintaining a high level of competition.” Daniel Michelucci, Canada Soccer’s director of national team operations, said in a statement. “We anticipate a thrilling encounter, showcasing two of the world’s top-ranked teams.”
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024
TORONTO – The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced cookie brand Oreo as the team’s helmet sponsor for the upcoming NHL season.
The new helmet will debut Sunday when Toronto opens its 2024-25 pre-season against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena.
The Oreo logo replaces Canadian restaurant chain Pizza Pizza, which was the Leafs’ helmet sponsor last season.
Previously, social media platform TikTok sponsored Toronto starting in the 2021-22 regular season when the league began allowing teams to sell advertising space on helmets.
The Oreo cookie consists of two chocolate biscuits around a white icing filling and is often dipped in milk.
Fittingly, the Leafs wear the Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s “Milk” logo on their jerseys.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
