OAKLAND, Calif. AP — Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Angels needed only one time through the lineup to figure out Shintaro Fujinami.
Taylor Ward homered and drove in four runs, and Los Angeles scored 11 times in the third inning to beat Oakland 13 -- 1 on Saturday, spoiling Fujinami's major league debut.
Ohtani had two hits and two RBIs for Los Angeles. Gio Urshela, Jake Lamb and rookie catcher Logan O Hoppe drove in two runs apiece to help the Angels avoid an 0 -- 2 start for the second consecutive season.
Phil Nevin, Los Angeles manager, said he was not worried about the offense. We hit some balls hard on Thursday and things could have gone awry if you look at the tape from Thursday. We pitched well and played a good defense, and we were happy with the way they swung it today. The starter Patrick Sandoval 1 -- 0 gave up a home run to Ram n Laureano, but that was it.
Fujinami, who signed a one-year free agent deal with Oakland after spending the past 10 seasons with the Hanshin Tigers, was part of the same draft class in Japan as Ohtani in 2012. The right-hander swept through the first two innings and fell apart.
After getting Ward to strike out swinging at a 93 mph slider to begin the game, Fujinami 0 - 1 whiffed slugger Mike Trout swinging on a 95 mph slider and getting Ohtani to ground out weakly to first base.
The Angels broke through in the third after a 1 -- 2 -- 3 second. O Hoppe's RBI double got it going. Ward had a run-scoring single before Ohtani banged a 0 -- 1 pitch off the left-field wall for a long RBI single.
Anthony Rendon added a sacrifice fly before Lamb's two-run single made it 6 -- 0 and ended Fujinami's afternoon after 55 pitches.
Ward said that was the start we needed. That is something we need to do every time when we bring the fire. I was just trying to stay on Fujinami's heater. In the situation I was in, with runners on, I figured he might go to an off-speed pitch early on, so I was ready for it. Fujinami lasted 3 innings, allowing eight earned runs with three walks and four strikeouts.
The fastball worked very well in the first inning. I thought I threw too many off-speed pitches in the third inning. I should have thrown more fastballs, he said, through interpreter Issei Kamada.
Fujinami was quick to point out that he is not satisfied.
Just getting on a big league mound is not enough, he said. I'll probably think about it when I get back home, but today it's today. Sandoval allowed two hits in five innings. He struck two and walked two. In nine career starts against Oakland, the left-hander is 3 -- 3 with a 1.84 ERA.
Sandoval said that he was just trying to keep his foot on the gas and make pitches. Some pitches made but didn't make any pitches. Tucker Davidson pitched four scoreless innings for his first major league save.