'He wants to win in the worst way' - Ohtani again leads way for Angels - ESPN

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The baseball sailed deep into the night sky, and Shohei Ohtani's bat went right along with it — the latter flipping five times before landing somewhere between the batter's box and the first-base dugout; the former traveling 403 feet to straightaway center field at Angel Stadium.

It was another signature moment in another season full of them for the Los Angeles Angels star.

Ohtani's unprecedented pitching and hitting exploits over these past 2½ years have been well-documented and thoroughly celebrated. What still isn't fully grasped, perhaps, is how stridently he chases greatness and how determinedly he yearns to win. But moments like that on Monday — an epic bat flip in the midst of a seventh-inning, game-tying homer, his major-league-leading 35th this season — provide a window into that desire.

«Everything he does is calculated to be the best player in the world, for the purpose of winning,» Angels manager Phil Nevin said after his team's 4-3 victory over the New York Yankees. «Everything else that comes along with that is great, but he wants to win, in the worst way. This has been frustrating for him in these last two weeks, as it's been for everybody.

»But you can see it on him. He wants to win. He wants to win here."

Ohtani's home run marked the third consecutive game in which he has gone deep in the seventh inning or later; it set the stage for Michael Stefanic, who grew up rooting for the Boston Red Sox, to deliver a walk-off hit in the 10th against Yankees lefty Nick Ramirez.

Ohtani, on pace for 60 home runs in his third full season as a two-way player, homered against Houston Astros closer Ryan Pressly to begin Saturday's ninth inning, propelling a late-game comeback.

The following night, he