ANAHEIM – Angelino star and pitcher Shohei Ohtani will have a limit of approximately 75 pitches and will not be part of the lineup as a hitter on his return to the lomita against the Rangers on Tuesday night at Angel Stadium , manager Joe Maddon said Monday.
Ohtani is scheduled to make his second opening of the season after dealing with a bottle in the middle finger of his right hand in his only outing of the year against the White Sox on April 4th. He threw a soft session from the bullpen on April 12 before doing some more aggressive Wednesdays and Saturdays without a protective band on his finger.
With Ohtani under a pitching limit on Tuesday, the Angelinos decided they weren’t going to use him as a batsman in the same game he’s opening so he could use one designated for the entire engagement. Ohtani beat second when he opened the scoring against the White Sox, connecting a home run in his first inning, while striking out seven in 4.1 innings allowing a clean run.
“It will have a limit of about 75 pitches, but we’ll have to wait and see what happens to the bottle,” Maddon said. “You just have to pay attention. It could be more, it could be less. It’s feeling really good. For the sake of uncertainty, I’m not going to put it on beating tomorrow, in case something goes wrong early and we have to handle it. – we with a short bench the rest of the night “.
As for Wednesday’s game, Maddon said it’s too early to know if Ohtani will be in the lineup the day after it opens. But he was in the lineup on Monday night and will depend on him if he wants to be BD on Wednesday.
“We talk about it and I’m waiting to see what you think about it,” Maddon said. “Maybe he wants to wait until after he launches to say something. And if that’s the case, that’s fine, too.”