Cardinals’ Oh Seung-hwan tosses 2 shutout innings vs. Angels

ANAHEIM, California, (Yonhap) — Oh Seung-hwan of the St. Louis Cardinals tossed two shutout innings against the Los Angeles Angels here Thursday, fanning one of the game’s best players in the process.

In his first appearance since last Saturday, Oh gave up a hit but struck out two over his two frames, lowering his ERA from 1.65 to 1.47. The South Korean right-hander has allowed three earned runs in 18 1/3 innings with 22 strikeouts in his first major league season.

Oh took over from starter Adam Wainwright to start the bottom sixth at Angel Stadium of Anaheim, with the Cardinals leading 10-7.

Oh needed only 10 pitches to retire the side in order in the sixth. He struck out Brendan Ryan on a 2-2 fastball and got Yunel Escobar to ground out to third. Kole Calhoun then grounded out to first.

In the highlight of his day, Oh struck out former American League MVP Mike Trout. On a 1-2 count, Oh threw a 93 mph fastball for his second punchout of the day.

Albert Pujols hit a single off Oh, but he was forced out at second on Daniel Nava’s grounder. Oh then escaped the inning unscathed when C.J. Cron lined out to second.

Oh threw 29 pitches, 20 of them for strikes, and was lifted for Jonathan Broxton at the start of the eighth.

The Cardinals hung on to win 12-10. They scored twice in the top ninth, but the Angels rallied with three runs in the bottom of the inning. They loaded the bases with one out, with closer Trevor Rosenthal issuing three straight walks, but Kevin Siegrist came to the rescue and got the final two outs.