The major league home run king competition is on the rise.
The hitter putting the brakes on Shohei Ohtani’s solo system of the Los Angeles Angels is Atlanta Braves left-handed first baseman Matt Olsen.
Olsen went 1 hit and 1 RBI in 5 at-bats in an away game against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on the 6th (Korean time). Atlanta lost 6-8.
It was in his last at-bat that Olsen hit a home run. Olsen, who had been withdrawn from the previous four at-bats with a hit, hit a two-run home run after a tenacious fight with right-hander Adbert Alzorey, who was trailing 4-8 in the ninth inning.
After one death, Austin Riley advanced to second base with Alzorey’s balk after a left-handed hit. Olson then hit Alzorey’s 87.6 mile slider in the middle of the ninth pitch in a full count and went over the middle wall. It is the 38th season arch with a launch angle of 21 degrees, an exit velocity of 111.9 miles, and a distance of 423 feet.
It was the first time Olson hit a home run in three days after the Los Angeles Angels match on the 3rd. And since the Milwaukee Brewers game on the 29th of last month, he has hit 6 home runs in the last 8 games.
Ohtani added a home run in 6 games against the Seattle Mariners on the 4th and climbed the 40th notice of the season. The gap with Olsen widened to 3, but it narrowed again to 2 in two days.
In the second half of the season, Ohtani had 38 homers until the 28th of last month, leading Olson with 32 home runs by six. After that, Ohtani turned to silence mode and Orson’s attack in earnest turned into a fierce competition.
Of course, individual titles are given by league, but fans only pay attention to who has the 1st combined home run in both leagues. And since Ohtani is the lead, Olsen’s chase is even more exciting.
However, on this day, Olsen made a crucial mistake in defense and provided an excuse for defeat.
In the bottom of the first inning, Olsen made a mistake that sent Cody Bellinger’s ground ball back and flowed toward the right fielder with one out, second and third base. Bellinger’s batted ball wasn’t that good at 87.9 mph. It passed under Olsen’s mitt and looked like an irregular bounce, but it was a ball to catch.토토사이트
The Cubs, who took a 2-0 lead, widened the score to 5-0 with Dansby Swanson’s two-run home run and Jamer Candelario’s solo home run in the ensuing chance. It’s like the match was decided in one round.
A local broadcaster lamented, “Olsson won two Gold Gloves, but this time Bellinger’s hitting was pretty good and the ground was wet. This year, he’s been sluggish in defense. If he got it right, he could have made a double play.”
Olsen is a veteran first baseman who won the Gold Glove for two consecutive seasons from 2018 to 2019, when he was with the Oakland Athletics. However, this season, he already tied his record of eight errors in a single season, and his fielding percentage fell below 0.990, marking his lowest in his career.
Atlanta’s three-game winning streak has stopped, but it is cruising toward a direct division series with an overwhelming win rate in the National League with 70 wins and 38 losses. The Cubs recorded 57 wins and 54 losses, and narrowed the lead against the Cincinnati Reds, second in the NL Central Division and third in the wild card, to 1.5 games.