From the very first pitch of Sunday afternoon’s series finale against the Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani did not look like himself. His first pitch was a 94 mph fastball that was hit 448 feet by Riley Greene. It’s the longest home run Ohtani has given up in his career.
In just four innings, Ohtani would give up three earned runs on five hits and a season-high four walks with just two strikeouts. Then, before his at-bat in the fifth inning, he was removed from the game entirely, causing speculation as to what could be wrong.
The Angels later announced that he was removed from the game due to a stomach virus. Ohtani confirmed this and said he was feeling sick from the moment he woke up, and simply hoped it would get better as the day went on, according to Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com:
“I was penciled in to start today and just because I was sick, I wasn’t going to avoid it,” Ohtani said through interpreter Ippei Mizuhara. “It was already set. I didn’t feel too well in the beginning of the day, and during my bullpen, I started feeling worse.”
Ohtani did his best to power through the illness, but clearly wasn’t his usual effective self. It took him 85 pitches to get through four innings, as he lacked the velocity and command that has allowed him to dominate throughout the 2022 season.
Angels interim manager Phil Nevin commended Ohtani for giving it a shot, saying that even the greatest of players can be hampered by things like illnesses.
“I know we call him Superman all the time, but it just shows he’s human,” Nevin said. “But grinding through four for us was huge with all the games we’re playing in a row. He was just taking more time between pitches and trying to catch his breath. But he was adamant about staying in. His stuff was there. The first pitch of the game, Greene jumped on that one, but his velocity kicked up like it usually does.”
Tigers manager A.J. Hinch also hinted that he could tell Ohtani was not feeling well. Of course, the Tigers did well to take advantage, as the three runs they got on Ohtani were more than enough to win the game 4-0.
The Angels were shut out despite seven hits — two from Mike Trout — and having runners in scoring position in four innings.
Reid Detmers struggles vs. Tigers as well
It wasn’t due to a stomach virus, but Reid Detmers also had a difficult time with the normally paltry Tigers offense. In his start, he allowed four runs on 10 hits and two walks over 4.1 innings.
When explaining what went wrong, he said it was simply one of those starts that he was never able to get settled into.
