Sunday’s pitching matchup between rookie right-handers Fernando Romero of the Twins and Shohei Ohtani of the Angels didn’t disappoint, even though the Angels won 2-1 on a walk-off base hit in the bottom of the ninth inning.
The pair of 23 year olds came into the game as two of the most hyped young starters in the game, with Romero’s fastball often clocked at 98 mph and Ohtani’s as high 101 mph.
Romero, who hadn’t allowed a run in two starts to begin his MLB career, kept the Angels scoreless on Sunday until giving up a run with two outs in the fifth inning. He struck out six, walked three and allowed four hits and one run in five innings of work.
His 15 2/3 scoreless innings to start his career is the second longest streak by a Twins starter, trailing only Andrew Albers’ 17 1/3 innings set in 2013.
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Ohtani, who homered in Thursday’s game against the Twins, was even better. He fanned 11 Twins over 6 1/3 innings while allowing just one run on three hits.
“He was really good,” said Logan Morrison via TwinsBaseball.com. “I think he’s doing something that nobody has probably ever done and it might be a long time before you see it again. There’s another guy in that clubhouse who is a really good player, but to me, with what [Ohtani] does on the mound and with the bat, he’s probably the best player in the world.”
The Twins were scheduled for an off day on Monday but will instead host the Seattle Mariners in a makeup game from earlier this season.
