Gwen Stefani is “No Doubt” a Shohei Ohtani fan.
The star pitcher’s seventh-inning homer on Monday against the Yankees closed a two-run gap for Los Angeles and electrified the crowd at Angels Stadium, including the Grammy award-winning singer.
Stefani jumped and cheered in the stands while Ohtani flipped his bat in the air before rounding the bases to tie the game, 3-3.
Wearing an Angels jersey with No. 7 and her last name stitched across the back, Stefani recorded Ohtani’s MLB-leading 35th home run on her phone with a big smile on her face.
“It was the most emotion I’ve seen on the field I’ve seen from him,” Angels manager Phil Nevin said of Ohtani, according to MLB.
“It was awesome. Just an incredible deal there. When your superstar steps up in moments like that and something like that happens, it’s not only what it does for the whole place but what it does for the dugout.”
The critical at-bat changed the complexion of the game as the Yankees proceeded to fall 4-3 in extra innings after giving up their lead.
While the Yankees had intentionally walked Ohtani in the fifth inning, his previous at-bat, they decided to pitch to him this time around.
The two-run shot was off reliever Michael King, who was ahead in the count, 1-2, before Ohtani ripped it over the fence in left-center.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone had no regrets about his team’s decision to pitch to arguably the league’s greatest offensive player.
“No, no,” Boone responded when asked if walking Ohtani before the game-tying blast was an option.
“Maybe if he had gotten to second base and fallen behind in the count or something, but not there.”
Stefani had more to cheer about on Tuesday as the Angels won the second game of the three-game series, 5-1.
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