The Angels had to be feeling very good about their decision to keep Shohei Ohtani on Thursday.
One day after reportedly deciding to take the two-way superstar off the trade market, Ohtani had a doubleheader performance for the ages in Detroit.
In Game 1 at Comerica Park, he threw the first complete game of his career with a one-hit shutout against the Tigers. Ohtani struck out eight batters and walked three en route to a 6-0 Los Angeles victory.
Get top local stories in Connecticut delivered to you every morning. >Sign up for NBC Connecticut's News Headlines newsletter.
Despite throwing 111 pitches over nine innings, Ohtani's day was far from over. After wowing on the mound, he put on a fireworks show at the dish.
In the second inning of Game 2, Ohtani took Matt Manning to the opposite field for a two-run homer.
Ohtani went yard off Manning again in the fourth inning, this time crushing a solo shot to right-center field for his MLB-leading 38th homer.
So to recap, Ohtani pitched a one-hit shutout, homered twice and drove in three runs as the Angels swept the doubleheader and moved to within three games of the final AL wild card spot.
Ohtani became the first player ever with a shutout in one game and a home run in the other of a doubleheader, per Elias Sports Bureau. He's also just the fifth player to ever throw a shutout and homer twice on the same day, according to MLB.com's Sarah Langs.
Manning, who allowed both homers, perfectly summed up Ohtani's historic afternoon.
"He probably had the greatest day of baseball that anyone has ever seen today. It was incredible," Manning told reporters, via MLB.com's Jason Beck.
"I'm proud I didn't shy away from it. Even when I got behind in the count, I went right at him. Tip your cap. It is what it is."
Manning probably isn't the first player to have an "It is what it is" reaction to being outdone by Ohtani this season. The AL MVP favorite leads the bigs in home runs, slugging percentage and OPS, while also holding opposing hitters to an MLB-low .185 batting average over 120.2 innings.
Even if moving Ohtani may have proved to be the better route for L.A. long term, not wanting to trade a player who's in the midst of arguably the greatest season in MLB history is certainly an understandable choice.
