OC Register: Angels say Shohei Ohtani’s elbow passed the test of his first game in nearly 3 months

[AngelsWin.com]

HOUSTON — Shohei Ohtani spent nearly three months working toward a return to the mound that lasted less than three innings and left many observers concerned.

But after the Angels’ 4-2 loss to the Houston Astros had ended on Sunday night, Manager Mike Scioscia said Ohtani’s drop in velocity toward the end of his 49-pitch outing was unrelated to the ulnar collateral ligament injury that kept the two-way star off the mound all summer.

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Ohtani had put his bare hand up to try to grab a comebacker in the second inning, and his ring finger started to hurt in the third, Scioscia said. Between the second and third innings, Ohtani also felt some back stiffness.

“I think the thing that obviously set him back for the last couple months was his elbow and his elbow felt fine,” Scioscia said. “The peripheral things, stiffness in his back and taking the ball off his ring finger, that will dissipate. We’re excited and we’re happy we saw the stuff you would hope to see from Shohei.”

Ohtani also said after the game his body felt good, but he would wait until Monday to get a better idea of how he rebounded from the outing.

Scioscia said they were anticipating that he’d be able to make his next start, which won’t be before next Sunday, in Chicago.

All of that was better news that what the situation may have been.

After throwing fastballs at 95-99 mph in the first two innings, Ohtani threw an 88.9 mph fastball to start the third inning. He threw six more in the inning and he didn’t crack 93 mph.

Action began immediately in the Angels bullpen.

At one point, Ohtani threw seven of eight offspeed pitches, including a slider that George Springer hit over the left-field fence for a two-run homer. Ohtani stuck around for a few more pitches to retire José Altuve, and then his night was over.

Ohtani’s pitch-count was one fewer than he’d thrown in his last simulated game. Scioscia said afterward the most they were going to push him to was about 60. In 2-1/3 innings, Ohtani gave up two runs on two hits, with two walks and two strikeouts.

While the velocity dip in the third inning certainly created questions, Ohtani had shown no issues in the first two innings. He retired six of the first eight hitters, with Springer poking an opposite field single and Carlos Correa taking a close pitch for a walk. Marwin Gonzalez hit a comebacker that deflected off Ohtani’s hand to third baseman Taylor Ward.

Ohtani threw as hard as 99, and mostly around 95-97 mph. He threw a few splitters, including one that struck out Yuli Gurriel. He threw 33 pitches in the first two innings.

“The first two innings were electric,” Scioscia said.

Ohtani’s outing came amid questions from inside and outside of the industry about why the Angels were having him pitch when they are out of the race.

Angels general manager Billy Eppler said repeatedly, including at length as recently on Friday, that Ohtani had been thoroughly examined all along by medical professionals and they had cleared him to pitch.

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He’d also said that no doctor had ever even mentioned surgery as an option for Ohtani, based on the degree of his injury. After Ohtani was diagnosed with the injury in June, he received platelet-rich plasma and stem cell injections.

Ohtani’s rehab followed a best-case scenario all along, allowing him to get back on the mound within three months. Eppler said there was value, both for Ohtani and the organization, of learning before the end of the season if his elbow could withstand pitching.

After Ohtani left the game on Sunday night with the Angels down 2-0, they had the rest of the night to try to salvage a victory.

Despite a lineup that included just three players from the opening day lineup, the Angels had six hits, three walks and a hit batter against Gerrit Cole. They couldn’t make much out of that, though. For the game, they were 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left 12 runners on base.

More to come on this story.

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