OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Rookie Logan O’Hoppe hit his first big league homer with a three-run drive in the fourth to break up a scoreless game, Mike Trout had a two-run shot the next inning and Shohei Ohtani connected one pitch later as the Los Angeles Angels beat the Oakland Athletics 6-0 on Sunday.
With two outs and in his 22nd at-bat, O’Hoppe drove a 1-1 fastball from Ken Waldichuk (0-1) over the wall in left-center, a 391-foot-shot with a 101.5 mph exit velocity. The catcher could be seen smiling and sporting a Golden State Warriors straw hat while celebrating in the dugout afterward with Ohtani.
O’Hoppe’s six RBIs so far are the most for an Angels catcher in the first three games of the season and also tied for the most by any catcher in the initial three games of a campaign over the last 20 years.
“Holy MOLY,” mother Angela said via text message from back in Sayville, New York, after flying a red-eye home from the Bay Area overnight in order to teach school Monday morning.
“O’Hoppe Day,” tweeted the Angels with video of his homer, stealing a line from the catcher’s close-knit family in a play off the “Oh Happy Day” church hymn they love. The O’Hoppes even had “O’Hoppe Day” T-shirts made in celebration of O’Hoppe’s father Michael achieving remission after he fought for his life and survived non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma from July 2021 through a stem-cell transplant early last year.
They found “HOPE” on Aug. 2, 2021 — Angela’s 50th birthday, the mom shared, from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center oncology team in New York “that it wasn’t a death sentence” after the original doctor gave Michael 7-19 months to live.
“Words can’t describe it. Not too long ago I wasn’t sure if I’d be here,” Michael O’Hoppe said by text message Sunday. “I am here and enjoying every minute of it. Beyond grateful.”
Logan O’Hoppe later singled. He is scheduled to catch again in Monday’s series opener at Seattle then get his first day off Tuesday with Matt Thaiss taking a turn behind the plate, manager Phil Nevin said before Sunday’s series finale. O’Hoppe, a 23rd-round draft pick by the Phillies in 2018 acquired in a trade last Aug. 2, became the youngest catcher in Angels history to start opening day Thursday at 23 years and 49 days.
Left-hander Tyler Anderson (1-0) allowed four hits, struck out four and walked two over six scoreless innings making his Angels debut after signing a three-year contract in November. He is 3-0 with a 0.48 ERA and 17 strikeouts in four career starts against the A’s.
Trout singled and hit his second double of the year before connecting in the fifth. He was 1 for 7 through his first two games, prompting Nevin to say before the game: “Mike I think has hit six balls over 105 (exit velocity) and he’s got one hit. That’ll change.”
Down 3-0 on Ohtani in the third with runners on first and second, Waldichuk got three straight strikes on the two-way star to avoid damage.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Angels: 3B Anthony Rendon had a day off as a precaution. He was removed in the bottom of the sixth Saturday after running into a rolled-up tarp in foul territory earlier in the game “make sure his health is good, which I think it is. He went into that tarp pretty hard yesterday.” … INF Jared Walsh, in Utah receiving treatment for headaches and insomnia, took some swings Saturday and was to do so again Sunday. … C Max Stassi (left hip strain) is still dealing with a personal issue and Nevin noted, “Just keep him in your thoughts, that’s all I can say.”
UP NEXT
LHP Reid Detmers pitches Monday for the Angels in the series opener at Seattle.
RHP James Kaprielian takes the mound for the A’s on Monday against the Cleveland Guardians.
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