It was the makings of another ordinary start for Shohei Ohtani on Thursday night. Through four innings, the Los Angeles Angels two-way phenom blanked the Seattle Mariners with three hits, one walk and four strikeouts. He currently sits at 14.1 consecutive scoreless frames.
But when the fifth inning began in Anaheim, José Soriano was on the mound. Ohtani remained in the game as the No. 2 batter and designated hitter in the lineup, but was removed as a pitcher. Later in the night, the Angels revealed that he was removed due to cramping in his right hand.
Angels manager Phil Nevin said that Ohtani asked to be taken out as a pitcher when he couldn’t move his right middle finger. Ohtani gave his reasoning for the removal and why he’s been dealing with so many cramps recently, according to Sarah Valenzuela of The L.A. Times:
“I’m cramping often lately,” Ohtani said in Japanese. “Today too I might have been able to go another inning or two if I monitored it carefully. These are important games for us. It was 0-0, a type of game in which one run could make the difference. I thought continuing to pitch would cause more problems for the team.”
When asked about the potential of skipping his next start, Ohtani said he would lean on the team to help decide that. But he made clear his intentions for the remainder of the season.
“That’s not something for me to decide, of course,” Ohtani said. “I want to work to remain on schedule, of course. I think that will depend on the team’s situation. That’s up to the manager’s judgment.
“Everyone is giving everything they have. Games that I could take off, I really don’t think there are any more games like that. If I can, I would like to play each and every game.”
This is the third time in recent weeks that cramping has been mentioned in association with Ohtani, who continues to produce despite it. Ohtani hit a solo home run in the eighth inning of Thursday’s 5-3 loss to the Mariners, his 40th long ball of 2023.
He left after four innings with the game knotted at zero, and the Angels looked on pace to take the series opener until a ninth-inning go-ahead grand slam from Cade Marlowe against Carlos Estévez.
Ohtani named Player of the Month
Ohtani, for the second consecutive month, was given American League Player of the Month honors after posting an absurd 1.156 OPS for the month of July and mixing in a complete game shutout against the Detroit Tigers. Ohtani had nine home runs, two doubles and two triples in July.