Shohei Ohtani’s unreal day marred by exit with apparent injury

Shohei Ohtani was giving the Angels a day for the history books, but his unreal performance was ruined when he was forced to exit with an apparent injury.

In the latest edition of Shohei Ohtani making the impossible a reality, we have his performance for the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday afternoon.

Ohtani started the first game of a doubleheader with the Detroit Tigers, it was the Japanese superstar on the mound as the starting pitcher (and also batting second in the lineup). While he was blanked at the plate, it didn’t matter because of his work on the bump, pitching a complete game, one-hit shutout, allowing just four total baserunners and striking out eight.

For his encore in the second game of the twin bill, Ohtani made up for his lack of production at the plate, blasting a two-run home run in the second inning to put the Halos up 5-0 and then followign it up with a mammoth 435-foot blast in the fourth inning.

Unfortunately, after that second home run, Ohtani grabbed at his side/back as he left the batter’s box. He was then taken back to the locker room and exited the game with what the Angels called cramping.

Shohei Ohtani injury: Angels star exits historic day

Ohtani’s “cramping” happens just days before the MLB trade deadline and after the Angels affirmed their all-in decision to keep the two-way star in Los Angeles and double down on it, starting with trading for Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez, with reports that they aren’t done.

It remains to be seen if Ohtani will miss any additional time after being pulled from Thursday’s game, but that’s something the Halos can ill afford.

The Angels have made up serious ground in the AL Wild Card race of late, hence their decision on the trade deadline approach and with Ohtani. At the same time, though, the club is already without Mike Trout due to injury and can’t handle losing its other superstar as well if they want to remain in the playoff hunt.