ANAHEIM, Calif. – MVP chants broke out for Shohei Ohtani during a routine at-bat in the seventh inning.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a pregame walk to the bullpen or a simple handshake after a game. Crowds, even on a Monday night in Anaheim, love Ohtani.

Angels fans, or perhaps just Ohtani fanatics, have every reason to cheer for the global superstar. He’s produced an unstoppable feat on all fronts, with a 3.04 ERA on the mound and 35 home runs on offense. He held the Rockies to just one run on Monday in a battle of the All-Stars. Ohtani and the Angels came out on top of Germán Márquez and the Rockies 6-2.

“To me, it’s just another game,” Márquez said. “I’m always going out to give my best to the team. He’s a pretty good guy but I have to do my job.”

It’s not just Ohtani’s athletic abilities, which in itself deserve a standing ovation, but also his persona. After hitting Trevor Story with a 97 mph fastball — which left Story in so much pain that his scream was heard all the way up in the third deck — Ohtani went over to apologize, something he did not need to do. Story, after a brief meeting with a trainer, appeared to be fine and stayed in the game.

Ohtani took the mound on Monday, in addition to batting second. It was the eighth time this season that he’s led major league baseball in home runs on the day that he also started. 

Ohtani pitched seven innings, allowing five hits and one run while also earning one hit and a stolen base as the designated hitter. His only mistake as a pitcher was a slider down the middle that Dom Nuñez launched into right field.

“Good stuff for sure,” manager Bud Black said of Ohtani’s pitching. “Easy delivery with a very good mix of pitches. He pitched well.”

Márquez, meanwhile, had the Rockies dress in black, instead of his usual purple, after not having his best start, but still a commendable one for most, in his last outing. His got off to a shaky start Monday, giving up two runs in the first. But he rebounded to retire the next 10 before giving up another hit. In the seventh, as his pitch count climbed into the 100s, Jack Mayfield took him deep for a two-run homer to give the Angels a 4-1 lead. He was removed after throwing his 107th pitch, the most he’s thrown this season.

Brendan Rodgers got one run back for the Rockies in the eighth off his sixth home run of the year. Sam Hilliard, with a runner on second and third, came close to being the hero again, but his shot landed just shy of going over the center-field wall.

“They outpitched us,” Black said. “They outhit us. We got beat tonight.”