Angels to give Ohtani a start
A look at what’s happening around the majors Sunday:
OHTANI ON THE MOUND: Shohei Ohtani’s quest to regain his reputation as a stellar two-way player gets a big test when he takes the mound for the Los Angeles Angels against the Chicago White Sox.
The right-handed Ohtani had 10 impressive starts on the mound as a rookie in 2018 before needing Tommy John surgery on his right elbow. He hasn’t been on the mound since except for two ineffective appearances last season.
The Angels still feel the Japanese star can contribute on the mound even after an inconsistent performance in spring training. The good news was Ohtani struck out 17 batters over 10⅓ innings. The bad was he also gave up 14 earned runs, walked 10 and had a 12.19 ERA.
LESS BUSY EASTER: Sundays around the big leagues are usually very busy, but there won’t be quite as many games this Easter.
The three-game Mets-Nationals series was already postponed because of COVID-19 issues with the Nationals. There are also some built-in days off
that have spaced out games for other teams during the season’s first few weeks. San Francisco-Seattle and Miami-Tampa Bay will also have Sunday off, meaning there’s just 12 games on the schedule.
HURTING HAYES: Pittsburgh’s emerging star, Ke’Bryan Hayes, left Saturday’s game against the Chicago Cubs with discomfort in his left wrist. He walked and scored on Kevin Newman’s two-out single in the first inning, but he jammed his left hand diving back to first on a pickoff attempt.