On Monday, fans at Fenway Park and those watching the TV broadcast at home expected to see Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani dominate for six or seven innings like he usually does.
Mother Nature, however, had other plans.
A rain delay interrupted his outing after he completed two innings.
Since play was halted for over an hour, the Angels as an organization decided not to have him back and risk his arm getting injured.
It was the right call: throwing max effort, stopping for an hour and then going back to throwing max effort can be detrimental for the arm’s health.
Fans only got to see the star for two innings, though.
The Angels still hung on for the win, but it came with a cost for the bullpen.
What will the Angels do with Ohtani this week considering he only threw two frames?
“Phil Nevin on if Shohei Ohtani’s next start could be moved up because he only went two innings today before the rain delay: ‘We’ll talk about it,’” Angels insider Rhett Bollinger tweeted, quoting Nevin.
Phil Nevin on if Shohei Ohtani’s next start could be moved up because he only went two innings today before the rain delay: “We’ll talk about it.”
— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) April 17, 2023
Ohtani, before the season, has made 18 career starts on five days of rest and has a 1.85 ERA, per ESPN.
He has a 3.48 ERA in 45 outings with six or more days of rest.
He is good either way, but the bottom line is that he is even better with five days of rest.
With such a short outing on Monday, the Angels might be truly considering moving him up a day, depending on how they want to play out the situation.
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