Betts (three HRs) gets Sox rolling in Anaheim
Anaheim, Calif. — Shohei Ohtani developed a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand nine days ago during his second start for the Los Angeles Angels.
The rookie right-hander thought it had healed enough for him to pitch effectively when he took the mound again Tuesday night in front of a sellout crowd eager to see Ohtani's next incredible feat.
Instead, the blister and the powerful Boston Red Sox were far too much to overcome.
Mookie Betts led off with the first of his three homers, and the Red Sox chased Ohtani after just two innings in a 10-1 victory over the Angels.
Ohtani (2-1) yielded four hits and three runs on 66 pitches before exiting with a blister on his pitching hand. The two-way Japanese sensation couldn't throw his breaking pitches for strikes, and the Red Sox jumped on him, starting with Betts' full-count homer on a low, 97 mph fastball.
“The stuff is there,” Betts said of Ohtani. “He's got it all. But our team, we had a good approach tonight. He wasn't able to land that splitter for strikes, and we did a good job laying off it and backing him into a corner where he probably had to throw a couple of pitches he didn't want to
throw.”
Ohtani has had intermittent issues with blisters during the past few months, and he had a bandage on one of his fingers last week.
“I felt like it would be fine today, (but) in the high intensity of a game, it didn't hold up too well,” Ohtani said through a translator. “But I'm not going to be at the top of my game every start. When I don't have my best stuff, I still have to fight through the game.”
Ohtani's fastball still hit 99 mph during his first career night start, but the evening began poorly when Betts cracked his 12th career leadoff homer.
Ohtani allowed another single and threw a wild pitch in the first inning. Betts drew the only walk issued by Ohtani during the second inning despite mostly dismal control. Boston scored two more runs on Holt's RBI single and Andrew Benintendi's sacrifice fly.
Jackie Bradley Jr., Brock Holt and Betts each homered in the third inning after Ohtani departed, and Rafael Devers homered in the fourth. Betts hit his third solo shot in the seventh inning, matching his career best while Boston's formidable lineup pounded out 15 hits.
David Price (2-1) yielded three hits and four walks over five comfortable innings as the Red Sox improved to 14-2, extending the AL's best start since 1987 by winning the opener of a three-game series.