Ohtani returns to the mound
He strikes out 7 in 4 scoreless innings
ANAHEIM » Shohei Ohtani’s return to the Angels’ rotation was a success.
After missing more than two weeks on the mound because of a blister, Ohtani pitched four scoreless innings in the Angels’ 6-2 victory over the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night.
Ohtani threw 80 pitches, striking out seven and walking six. He also hit a batter.
After he was done, the Angels padded the lead with a pair of monster homers by Mike Trout and Albert Pujols, each one traveling 446 feet.
The story was still Ohtani, the Angels’ twoway star who has continually faced issues that prevented him from being at his peak offensively and on the mound at the same time.
The latest issue was a blister that developed during his 92-pitch first start of the year on April 4.
Ohtani said that the fastball is what caused the blister, so it’s worth noting that his fastball percentage went from 56 percent in his first start to 39 percent on Tuesday. The average velocity also dropped from 98.1 mph to 95.6 mph.
Although Ohtani made it through this game without allowing any runs, it was a bumpy ride at times.
In the first inning, Ohtani walked three straight hitters to load the bases, but he escaped by striking out Nick Solak and Willie Calhoun.
After the 28-pitch first, he got a little better as he
went. He needed 19 pitches to get through the second and 12 pitches to get through the third. In the fourth, he issued a two-out walk on his 74th pitch and then he hit Brock Holt with his 75th pitch.
At that point, Ohtani was right at the number that Joe Maddon had said was his limit, but he stayed in the game for leadoff hitter Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and he struck him out on five pitches.
After Ohtani was done, the Angels brought in starter Griffin Canning, whose time between starts had been extended by the two postponements against the Minnesota Twins over the weekend. Canning started last Wednesday in Kansas City, and his next start isn’t scheduled until this weekend, in Houston, at the earliest.
Canning threw 30 pitches and got seven outs to bridge the gap from Ohtani to the late-inning relievers. He gave up a homer to Solak and was pulled with a runner at third after a Kiner-Falefa triple in the seventh.
That run scored when Joey Gallo bunted for a hit against the shift with two outs, cutting the Angels’ lead to 3-2.
Pujols then provided an insurance run with his second homer of the year, an inning after Trout’s homer. Kurt Suzuki hit a two-run homer off the left field pole to increase the lead to four runs.