Shohei Ohtani’s historic begin Sunday evening began with a bang, but ended in ache.
After pitching a shutout inning to open the sport at Angel Stadium, Ohtani – who was batting second in the lineup – clobbered a home run on the primary pitch he noticed from White Sox starter Dylan Cease. It was Ohtani’s second home run of the younger season, after hitting his first of 2021 on Friday night.
However, in the fifth inning, Ohtani’s sensible evening got here to a devastating halt. Ohtani’s night ended when Jose Abreu slid into him whereas scoring the tying run, with Ohtani shaken up on the play.
Ohtani had allowed successful and two walks, but the inning went from unhealthy to worse when Yoan Moncada swung at strike three with two outs, but the pitch glided by Angels catcher Max Stassi. Stassi’s throw to get Moncada out at first base was wild and that allowed two runs to attain, tying the sport and stopping Ohtani from qualifying for a win. Steve Cishek got here in to complete the inning for the Angels.
Ohtani was experiencing common soreness from the play on the plate and wasn’t faraway from the sport for injury functions, ESPN reported. He will likely be additional evaluated Monday.
Ohtani turned simply the third pitcher over the past 45 seasons to hit for himself in a recreation with the designated hitter obtainable. He’s additionally the first pitcher to bat second for a team since Jack Dunleavy did it for the St. Louis Cardinals on Sept. 7, 1903.
Ohtani’s home run traveled 450 toes, based on the ESPN broadcast. He completed the sport going 1-for-3.
No Angels pitcher had ever hit for himself in a recreation with the designated hitter obtainable for the reason that rule was carried out in the American League in 1973.
An AL workforce hadn’t declined to make use of the DH in a recreation in which it was obtainable since May 17, 2009, when present Angels supervisor Joe Maddon’s Tampa Bay Rays did it by chance. Maddon submitted a lineup card with an error, itemizing two third basemen – which meant Andy Sonnanstine needed to hit for himself whereas Evan Longoria wasn’t allowed to play.
The prior time an AL workforce declined the designated hitter was Sept. 23, 1976, when Ken Brett of the Chicago White Sox batted eighth. The solely different time it occurred since 1976 was on June 30, 2016, when the San Francisco Giants’ Madison Bumgarner batted for himself in opposition to the Oakland A’s.
Contributing: The Associated Press.
