Angels, bullpen end up all wet
Relievers open the floodgates after solid start by Ohtani in rain-marred game.
DETROIT — He felt warm, felt ready, felt the perspiration beading up like normal.
Then Shohei Ohtani started pitching to the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday night and he suspected things weren’t normal at all.
“When I saw 91 [mph] on the board … I haven’t thrown a 91 fastball since high school,” Ohtani said through an interpreter. “I knew there was something wrong.”
Perhaps fooled by the humid, sweat-inducing conditions, the rookie wasn’t as warmed up as he thought en route to giving up a first-inning run before settling in to pitch four solid innings.
But two rain delays and a rocky appearance by Cam Bedrosian ruined Ohtani’s night and the Angels’ night, too, in a 6-1 loss.
Given extra rest this time through the rotation to manage his season-long workload, Ohtani eventually reached triple digits with his fastball and gave up only two hits and a walk after the first inning.
He stayed in the game after a rain delay of 23 minutes before the start of the fifth
DETROIT — There were two traditional rain delays Wednesday during the Angels’ 6-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park.
There also was a rather nontraditional goose delay.
The second restart of the night was briefly held up by a wild goose chase — yes, an actual wild goose chase — and a subsequent accident in which said goose flew into one of the scoreboards and crashed into the stands.
It was a moment rarely, if ever, witnessed in baseball, a game that offers viewers a daily opportunity to see something for the first time.
“I had a duck growing up as a pet and he was always running around when we were playing Wiffle ball in the backyard,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said, dismissing the notion that he had never seen anything quite like this before. “To be honest with you, I have.”
The incident caught the attention of the entire stadium and was picked up by TV cameras. Several of the Angels popped out of the visiting dugout, craning their necks to see what was happening.
Stadium personnel first tried to shoo the goose, which had visited right field during the second rain delay. After a couple of minutes scurrying around, the bird finally decided to leave.
“It looked like me trying to get off the ground for a while,” Scioscia said. “He had about six inches of altitude, but he finally got up.”
Yet, apparently disoriented, the bird flew into one of the electronic boards on the third deck and plummeted into the seats below, several rows up from the Angels’ dugout.
The landing was greeted by audible gasps. Someone eventually scooped up the goose.
A short time later, images of the bird were displayed on the video boards and the Tigers announced it was uninjured and had been released.
The crowd cheered wildly and, after Detroit scored five runs in the sixth inning, shouts of “rally goose” could be heard throughout the ballpark.
“I’ve seen some raccoons, some squirrels,” Angels center fielder Mike Trout said. “But a Canadian goose? That’s the first time I’ve seen that. Pretty cool.”
Cozart sits out
Zack Cozart was removed from the Angels starting lineup because of tightness in his left forearm. Scioscia said Cozart is dayto-day.
Cozart was originally batting leadoff and playing third base. Second baseman Ian Kinsler moved to the top of the order, Luis Valbuena shifted from first to third base and Jefry Marte played first.