Shohei Ohtani threw eight scoreless innings, allowed just two hits and struck out a career-high 13 to lead the Los Angeles Angels to a 5-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals in Anaheim, California, on Wednesday night.

The performance came one night after Ohtani homered twice and drove in eight runs against the Royals.

Ohtani (6-4) gave up back-to-back singles to Whit Merrifield and Andrew Benintendi to begin the game but did not allow another hit the rest of the way, retiring the next 16 batters in a row.

The only Royals batter to reach base after the first inning was Merrifield, who walked in the sixth but was erased on a double-play. Ohtani threw a season-high 108 pitches in the victory.

Ryan Tepera pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to complete the Angels¡¯ two-hitter.

Ohtani went 1-for-3 with two walks at the plate.

Angels center fielder Mike Trout and first baseman Jared Walsh were given the night off to rest, but the club got a boost from second baseman Luis Rengifo, who had two hits batting in the third spot.

David MacKinnon got the start at first base for Los Angeles and drove in two runs with a sacrifice fly and an RBI single, his first career major league hit.

Royals starter Daniel Lynch (3-7) matched Ohtani zero for zero through four innings before the Angels pushed across a run in the fifth.

Lynch walked both Taylor Ward and Ohtani with one out in the inning. After an infield single by Rengifo loaded the bases, MacKinnon hit a sacrifice fly to put the Angels up 1-0.

That was the end of the night for Lynch, who gave up one run on three hits and five walks in 4? innings, striking out five and throwing 104 pitches.

The Angels gave Ohtani some breathing room in the seventh with a couple of insurance runs. Andrew Velazquez led off with a walk, and he scored on Rengifo¡¯s two-out double. MacKinnon followed with an RBI single to make the score 3-0.

Velazquez had a run-scoring single and Ward hit an RBI double in the eighth.