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A day after leaving the mound after just four innings, Los Angeles Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani will be in the lineup Friday as the designated hitter against the Seattle Mariners.
Phil Nevin said Ohtani feels fine and that’s why he’s DHing today. They will see how he does over the next couple days to settle on his next start. His turn would be on Weds vs the Giants.
— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) August 4, 2023
The news appears to be good for Ohtani, as he left Thursday night's game with cramping in his right middle finger. At the time, Ohtani had pitched four scoreless innings, but he felt unsure after the cramping started.
Ohtani would remain in the batting order and would deliver his Major League leading 40th home run in the game, but the issue with his hand clearly upset the pitcher/slugger.
“It’s not just my finger,” Ohtani said through his translator. “I’ve been kind of getting cramps all over the place. I felt like maybe I could have gone another inning or two, but I’m trying to feel out how my hand feels, and it’s a 0-0 game. I couldn’t give up any runs, and I felt like it was better for the team to stop pitching there.”
Shohei Ohtani drilled a 107-mph line drive off Isaiah Campbell into the right field stands at Angel Stadium in the eighth inning. That blast allowed the Angels to tie the score, but Seattle's Cade Marlowe hit the game-winning grand slam in the ninth inning for the visitors.
Even though Ohtani will take his spot in the batting order for the Angels in the second game of the series with the Mariners, there are no guarantees that he will take his next opportunity in the Angels pitching rotation. The Angels and Ohtani hope to figure out the cause of the cramping problem so he does not miss a turn in the rotation.
