Ohtani to get extra day of rest before his next start

The Angels are giving Shohei Ohtani an extra day of rest between starts for the first time this season, a recognition of the fact that he’s in line to far exceed his previous innings total and also has not pitched as well lately.

Manager Phil Nevin said Sunday the Angels will have Tyler Anderson, Jaime Barria and Reid Detmers start the three games against the Chicago Cubs, starting Tuesday. Ohtani will pitch on Friday against the Seattle Mariners. That will be six days rest after his previous outing. Ohtani had made all of his previous starts on five days rest except for one with three days rest after a rain-shortened outing.

In previous seasons, the Angels used Ohtani every sixth game, but this year they changed that to have him pitch every sixth day, which would get him to the mound slightly more often. Through his first 12 starts, he had pitched 71 innings, which is a pace for 180200 innings. Last year he pitched a career-high 166 innings.

“He’s approaching places he hasn’t been before,” Nevin said. “I just felt like it was good to give him an extra day now.”

By pushing Ohtani back, the Angels are losing one start. He had been in line to pitch the final game before the All-star break, on July 8, and then the first game after the break, on July 14, on his normal rest.

Now, the Angels could have Ohtani make his final start of the first half on July 3 or July 4 in San Diego, which would give him a significant mid-season breather before the second half.

The move also comes at a time when Ohtani has not pitched as well as he did last year. Ohtani has a 3.30 ERA, including a 5.02 mark over his past seven games.

The Angels also now can get Barria back on the mound after his second straight strong outing since he moved into the rotation. Barria has allowed one run in 10 innings.

Moniak losing playing time, will stay up

As quickly as Mickey Moniak rose to become a revelation at the top of the Angels lineup, he was gone.

Moniak was on the bench for all four games this weekend in Houston, which is simply because Taylor Ward has gotten hot. Ward was 9 for 22 with two homers in the five games leading into Sunday.

The Angels expected Ward to be an everyday player, based on last season, when they constructed the team, and now that he’s heating up, that’s how they’re using him.

The question, then, is whether the Angels should keep Moniak sitting on the bench in the majors, or send him to Triple-a to play every day.

Nevin said Moniak has shown them enough that they still see value in keeping him in the majors.

“I think he’s too valuable to us right now,” Nevin said before Sunday’s game. “He’s still in a good place. He’s gonna be in a game here soon. There’s some scenarios coming up where he has a chance where he could play a couple.”

Nevin said he was set to use Moniak as a pinch-hitter on Saturday, but the situation didn’t arise. He also said he envisions days off this week for Ward, Hunter Renfroe and Mike Trout, which would provide opportunities for Moniak.

Moniak is hitting .327 with a 1.034 OPS and four homers in 14 games. Ward is hitting .240 with a .665 OPS and six homers, but the Angels are expecting him to perform more like last year when he had an .833 OPS. Moniak’s career OPS coming into this season was .486.

Fletcher update

Infielder David Fletcher is hitting .336 with a .787 OPS in 34 games at Triplea. The Angels surprisingly sent him down in April, trying to get him back to being as productive as he was in his first few years in the majors.

“He’s putting the ball in play kind of close to what the Fletch we’ve always seen has,” Nevin said. “There’s a lot of good things that he’s doing down there, and from what I’ve heard from the coaching staff and the guys around there, is he’s a great teammate and gone down there and understood what he’s had to do. Where that puts him right now, I couldn’t tell you, but I know he’s doing the right things.”

Also

Anthony Rendon, who has been out with a groin injury, is scheduled to work out at Angel Stadium today, and then he could be activated on Tuesday or Wednesday, Nevin said.