OAKLAND, Calif. — Not until Angels rookie Logan O’Hoppe had completed his first big league home-run trot and returned to the dugout did he catch his breath and fully realize what had just happened.
He put on a straw hat with the Golden State Warriors logo and got swarmed with love, handshakes and hugs from his teammates.
“I think putting that hat on and running through the dugout definitely kind of gave me that moment to have and get excited about it,” he said. “When I took it off, it was back to it. I did have a couple seconds to take it in.”
O’Hoppe’s three-run drive in the fourth broke 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 crushed 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 that straw hat courtesy of staffer Tim Buss while celebrating in the dugout afterward with Ohtani.
“Obviously all the emotions that come with it, it was a pretty surreal moment, and happy it got us on the board,” he said. “… I knew he wasn’t going to catch it but I wasn’t sure if it was going to get out. I actually didn’t even see the ball clear. I just saw when he stopped, I heard the dugout behind me so I’m like, ‘All right, I guess it’s gone.’”
He has been working on slowing things down in order to not let the moment become too much at the start of his first full big league season.
“I’m getting used to the environment, getting used to the third deck, all that stuff,” he said. “I’m really excited because I feel like my heart rate’s a little slower than it was opening day and last year, too.”
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 seven to 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.
“I feel like a lot of the fan base knows my family like I do now, so there are going to be a lot of tears going on,” he said. “It’ll be fun.”
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.
YANKEES 6, GIANTS 0
NEW YORK (AP) — Giancarlo Stanton hit a 485-foot home run, Aaron Judge also went deep and Jhony Brito won his brilliant major league debut as the New York Yankees beat San Francisco 6-0 on Sunday for their second shutout of the Giants in the opening three-game series.
New York improved to 29-2, including the playoffs, when Judge and Stanton homer in the same game. Kyle Higashioka also homered off Ross Stripling (0-1), who served up all three long balls in his first start for San Francisco.
Brito (1-0) yielded only two hits — one a bunt single — over five innings. He struck out six and walked one.
RED SOX 9, ORIOLES 5
BOSTON (AP) — Adam Duvall had three more hits, including two doubles and a two-run single to break a fifth-inning tie.
One day after Duvall went 4 for 5 with a walk-off homer, the free agent outfielder collected his sixth extra-base hit of the season. He’s the first player in franchise history with six in his first three games with the team.
The Red Sox are the third team — joining the 1976 Reds and ‘78 Brewers — to score at least nine runs in each of their first three games.
Tanner Houck (1-0) lasted five innings, giving up three runs, five hits and a walk while striking out five. Cole Irvin (0-1) allowed six runs and eight hits in four-plus innings.
METS 5, MARLINS 1
MIAMI (AP) — Kodai Senga struck out eight in his major league debut, wearing a glove with an image of a ghost and a pitchfork in reference to his “ghost forkball.”
The 30-year-old right-hander allowed one run, three hits and three walks in 5 1/3 innings. His eight strikeouts tied for the fourth-most by a Japanese pitcher in an MLB debut.
Tommy Pham had three hits and three RBIs, finishing a triple shy of the cycle as the Mets won for the third time in the four-game opening series. Trevor Rogers (0-1) gave up four runs, four hits, two walks and two hit batters in 4 1/3 innings.
NATIONALS 4, BRAVES 1
WASHINGTON (AP) — MacKenzie Gore allowed one run and three hits across 5 1/3 innings in his regular-season debut for the Nationals.
Gore (1-0), a 24-year-old left-hander who was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2017 amateur draft, didn’t allow a hit until there were two outs in the fourth.
Atlanta’s Jared Shuster (0-1), a first round pick in 2020, lasted 4 2/3 innings in his major league debut and allowed five runs, four hits and five walks. Dominic Smith hit a go-ahead single in a four-run first.
RAYS 5, TIGERS 1
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Tampa Bay’s Jeffrey Springs (1-0) was pulled after six hitless innings, Riley Greene got Detroit’s first hit with an infield single off Colin Poche in the seventh and the Rays completed an opening three-game sweep.
Springs struck out a career-high 12 and matched his high of six innings. Outscored 21-3 in the series, Detroit had just one runner against Springs: Nick Maton drew a two-out walk in the second.
Randy Arozarena had a fourth-inning solo homer off Joey Wentz (0-1), and Jose Siri drove in two with a single against Jason Foley during a three-run sixth.
REDS 3, PIRATES 1
CINCINNATI (AP) — Graham Ashcraft (0-1) allowed one run and four hits in seven innings, giving up Brian Reynolds’ homer.
Jason Vosler and TJ Friedl hit solo home runs for the Reds. Alexis Díaz pitched the ninth for his first save.
Vince Velasquez (0-1), making his Pirates debut after signing in December as a free agent, lasted 4 2/3 innings, giving up three runs and five hits.
TWINS 7, ROYALS 4
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Joey Gallo homered twice to back Joe Ryan (1-0), who gave up one run and three hits in six innings as Minnesota swept its opening series for the first time since 2017, also against Kansas City.
Gallo hit a solo homer in the sixth off Amir Garrett and a three-run drive in the seventh against Dylan Coleman for a 6-1 lead and his 16th multihomer game, his first since last June 9 for the Yankees at Minnesota.
Brad Keller (0-1) allowed two runs and five hits in 4 2/3 innings. Edward Olivares homered in the second ending a 19-inning scoreless streak for the Royals, their longest starting a season.