KYODO NEWS - Apr 4, 2018 - 17:18 | All, Sports

Shohei Ohtani announced his arrival as a two-way player in the majors on Tuesday with three hits and a three-run home run for the Los Angeles Angels in a 13-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians.

In his sixth at-bat in the majors, the designated hitter lined a drive to right center off a curveball from right-hander Josh Tomlin (0-1) in the bottom of the first inning, turning a 3-2 Angels lead into the start of a rout.

Ohtani went 1-for-5 in his major league hitting debut last Thursday and followed with a six-inning pitching victory on Sunday to quiet critics, who had slammed his inclusion on the Angels' major league roster after his dismal spring training.

Cleveland opened the scoring in the first on Jose Ramirez's two-run homer off right hander Garrett Richards (1-0), who went 5-2/3 innings to earn the win.

In the bottom of the first, Mike Trout homered to right center and Kole Calhoun's RBI single tied it. Luis Valbuena walked to load the bases with two outs for Ohtani. After Calhoun scored on a wild pitch, Ohtani reached down for a low curve ball and launched it into the outfield seats in right center.

"I didn't think it was going to go out, but the wind carried it," Ohtani said. "It felt great."

"I swung and missed at (Tomlin's) first pitch and thought, 'that's a heck of a curve,' and I really relaxed after a run came in on the wild pitch. I think because of that (wild pitch) he hung another a little and I put a good swing on it."

The rookie was given the customary silent treatment in the dugout before being mobbed by his teammates, then stepped onto the field when the Angel stadium crowd demanded a curtain call.

Solo homers by Justin Upton in the second and by Valbuena in the third made it an 8-2 game.

In his second at-bat, Ohtani lined to right off the glove of second baseman Jason Kipnis for a single.

With two on in the fifth after Anrelton Simmons' RBI double and Valbuena's second walk, Ohtani took a borderline pitch for strike three. But Rene Rivera, the Angels' back-up catcher, doubled in both runners to make it 11-2.

Ohtani led off the eighth inning with a line single, and scored on a home run by Rivera.

A former star slugger and ace pitcher for Japan's Nippon Ham Fighers, Ohtani said talking to superstar hitters like Trout and Albert Pujols had helped him improve his game, but that he has gotten help from others as well.

"Not just my teammates but the hitting coaches, all the staff, they all help me and make me feel comfortable, so my success is due to them, too," said Ohtani, who came to bat with the same walk-up music he had with the Fighters.

"I didn't have anything special in mind so I just kept the same one. Although the setting has changed, I was able to come up with more or less the same rhythm."