ANAHEIM, Calif. — One bad inning from Griffin Canning was far too much for the Angels to overcome with one memorable swing from Shohei Ohtani.
Canning gave up a grand slam in the second inning and then retired the last 13 batters he faced, leaving the mound just before Ohtani crushed the longest home run of his career.
Ohtani’s 493-foot shot in the wasn’t enough in the Angels’ 6-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night.
Although it goes as a footnote on the third straight day that the Angels starter allowed at least five runs, it’s an impressive footnote nonetheless.
Ohtani yanked the pitch to straightaway right field, nearly reaching the seats above the electronic message board that sits just inside the foul pole.
The homer was the longest homer hit by any Angels player since StatCast began tracking them in 2015. It was the longest homer by anyone in the majors this season.
It also gave Ohtani 30 homers for the season and 15 in June, extending the franchise record for homers in any month.
Unfortunately for the Angels, it came after Canning had a one-inning meltdown that ended his string of quality work.
Canning had a 2.25 ERA over his previous six starts, including a scoreless outing last weekend at hitter-friendly Coors Field.
His rough outing on Friday night came on the heels of a pair of games in which starters Jaime Barría and Patrick Sandoval combined to allow 12 earned runs in the previous two games, both losses.
Canning gave up a run in the first. He quickly retired the first two hitters of the game before allowing the next three hitters to reach, producing a run.
In the second inning, he got two outs on six pitches before losing the strike zone. Canning walked three straight hitters. He got to a full count on Arizona DH Lourdes Gurriel Jr. when he hung a slider over the middle of the plate, and Gurriel pumped it over the left field fence to break the game open.
Canning had not issued more than three walks in any of his previous 12 starts this season, and he surpassed that by the 10th batter of Friday’s game.
The five total walks were tied for the second most of his career.
After the homer, Canning struck out Christian Walker to end the inning. He then returned to the mound in the third inning and struck out the side.
He struck out the same three hitters in the sixth, finishing his 112-pitch outing with four perfect innings. He struck out nine of the last 13 he faced.
Canning’s work after the homer not only gave him something positive to take into his next start, but it preserved the Angels’ bullpen. Left-hander Aaron Loup worked the seventh and then right-hander Victor Mederos made his major league debut by working the final two innings. Mederos gave up one run.
