NEWS » Shohei Ohtani won’t get a chance to experience the playoffs in his

first major league season Carlos Ruiz Jersey , but he’s putting himself into solid contention for a big-time postseason award.Ohtani, who began the season as a pitcher and designated hitter before elbow problems limited him to offensive duties for most of the past two months, has been stacking up exceptional numbers at the plate over the past six weeks and making a case for American League rookie of the year honors.He’ll try to maintain his hot hand Tuesday night against the Texas Rangers at Angel Stadium.Article continues below ...Ohtani earned his second AL player of the week honor on Monday after going 9-for-19 with four home runs, a double, a triple and 10 RBIs in five games last week.“I feel like I’m progressing as a hitter right now, so I’m trying to gain as many experiences as I can while the games count,” Ohtani told the Orange County Register on Friday.He extended his hitting streak to eight games with a single and double in the series opener on Monday night, scoring a run and driving in another in the 5-2 loss to the Rangers, which snapped a four-game winning streak for the Angels (71-73).Ohtani is hitting .373 in his past 29 games with 10 home runs, five doubles, 29 RBIs and 23 runs scored, raising his average from .267 to .294 in that span.Overall, the Japanese star has 19 homers and 54 RBIs in 86 games.The Rangers (62-82) meanwhile have been receiving solid play from rookie first baseman Ronald Guzman.He came into Monday’s game with one hit in his past 12 at-bats, then hit a two-run homer in the second inning that gave the Rangers a 4-0 lead. It was Guzman’s 15th home run of the season.Last month http://www.marinersfanproshop.com/authentic-edgar-martinez-jersey , Guzman became the first Texas rookie to hit three home runs in a game, and he’s also hit a grand slam this summer.The Rangers are 10-3 when Guzman homers.Rangers left-fielder Joey Gallo delivered a two-run double in the second inning on Monday and a run-scoring single in the eighth to raise his RBI total to a career-high 85. Already, he’s the first Texas player with at least 35 home runs in back-to-back seasons since Mark Teixeira in 2004-05.Angels manager Mike Scioscia announced after Monday’s game that veteran relief pitcher Jim Johnson would make the start Tuesday, his first since his major league debut on July 26, 2006. Johnson (5-3, 3.81 ERA) has since made 666 relief appearances.Rangers veteran right-hander Bartolo Colon was recently moved to the bullpen, opening the door for Adrian Sampson to move into the starting spot on Tuesday.Sampson (0-0, 54.00) made his Rangers debut on Friday, allowing three runs (two earned) and four hits while retiring just one batter out of the bullpen in an 8-4 loss to the Oakland A’s.“We’re at a point right now where we have some players we’d like to take a look at that we haven’t seen at this level,” Rangers manager Jeff Banister told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.Sampson, 26, made his only other major league start for the Seattle Mariners on Sept. 7, 2016, nearly getting through the fourth inning unscathed against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park before surrendering a two-out solo home run.The 2012 fifth-round pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates ultimately left after allowing four runs and eight hits in 4 2/3 innings of the 6-2 loss. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — An 11-game losing streak wore on the San Francisco Giants http://www.marinersfanproshop.com/authentic-edgar-martinez-jersey , who had chances in many of those games and wound up on the wrong end.Chris Stratton’s first career shutout couldn’t have come at a more opportune time to get his club out of a deep, weeks-long funk.Stratton pitched a two-hitter, Austin Slater backed him with a two-run single, and San Francisco snapped its longest skid since 1951 by beating the Colorado Rockies 2-0 on Friday night.“We’re trying to get wins. We’re not giving up,” Stratton said. “It’s just kind of been a tough little go right now but we’re doing all we can to win games.”The NL West-leading Rockies had their division lead trimmed to a half-game over the Los Angeles Dodgers, who won at St. Louis. Colorado had its seven-game winning streak against San Francisco snapped.Stratton (10-9) struck out seven and walked two, throwing 114 pitches to finish the 2-hour, 20-minute game. He allowed only one baserunner to reach second with Trevor Story getting there in the second.“We just couldn’t seem to square it up consistently,” Rockies manager Bud Black said.The right-hander has a career high in victories and became the Giants’ first pitcher with double-digit wins since 2016 when Johnny Cueto, Madison Bumgarner and Jeff Samardzija got there. Those three star pitchers have dealt with injuries this season.Stratton, who worked with former Giants righty Ryan Vogelsong when sent back down to Triple-A Sacramento and will be a contender for the rotation in 2019, retired nine straight during one stretch then his final 12 batters. He pitched the first Giants’ shutout since Samardzija on Aug. 28, 2017, against San Diego.While ending the longest skid of Bruce Bochy’s managerial career — he had a nine-game losing streak with San Diego in 2003 — the Giants earned their first victory this month.“It’s great get off the schneid. I’m not going to lie Jay Buhner Jersey , it wears on you, it does,” Bochy said. “It was one of those streaks, it’s hard to believe we were in the streak, to be honest, because we were in so many games.”The Giants ended their worst winless stretch since moving to San Francisco. They avoided what would have been just the fourth losing streak of 12 or more games in franchise history since 1883. They did so in 1944 with a 13-game skid and also in 1902 and 1900 — all of them while playing in New York.Tyler Anderson (6-9) hasn’t won in 12 starts since beating the Giants on July 4, going 0-6 during that span with Colorado posting a 2-10 record during his outings.Anderson’s wild pitch in the second put runners on second and third before Slater’s single. Anderson then struck out the side in order the next inning.“If I don’t throw a wild pitch there, we might still be playing,” he said. “I might throw a double-play ball and we could still be going. But overall, in general, better.”He allowed two runs on seven hits in six innings, struck out six and didn’t walk a batter.“Tyler threw the ball much better,” Black said. “I think you saw the command.”GIANTS MOVESan Francisco dismissed seventh-year strength and conditioning coach Carl Kochan in what could be the beginning of a series of moves as another losing season winds down.TRAINER’S ROOMGiants: 1B Brandon Belt exited in the top of the seventh and said afterward his tender right knee “just got worse.” He said he might need more days off, and Bochy agreed it could be necessary. “I’m concerned there Denard Span Jersey ,” Bochy said. “We’ve got to be smart about this and see where he’s at. You get caught in a diminishing return area, where you’re starting a guy then he has to come out of the game.” Belt felt considerable discomfort all day and said it won’t be right until he undergoes an offseason arthroscopic “cleanup” procedure — something he also did after the 2015 season. … SS Brandon Crawford is encouraged his sore left knee has made progress the past four or five days. “Hopefully finish strong,” he said. … 3B Pablo Sandoval, recovering from right hamstring surgery, is happy to be back around the team. He’s doing cardio work in his rehab for now, not yet able to lift weights yet. “I feel great,” he said. Sandoval hopes to be fully ready by spring training.UP NEXTRockies: RHP German Marquez (12-9, 3.94 ERA) is on a run of nine straight quality starts, Colorado’s longest streak since Ubaldo Jimenez had a franchise-best 14 straight in 2010.Giants: LHP Bumgarner (5-6, 3.30) hasn’t allowed a run in his past 14 innings at home dating to Aug. 7.