Shohei Ohtani, Anthony Rendon exit early after Mike Trout hits IL in nightmare day for Angels
The Los Angeles Angels have had better days.
Tuesday began with star outfielder Mike Trout hitting the 10-day injured list after fracturing the hamate bone in his left wrist on a seemingly uneventful foul ball. The injury will reportedly keep Trout sidelined for four to eight weeks, which is not what you want to hear when you are the 45-42 Angels and three games back of the final wild-card spot, as they were entering Tuesday.
A game in which Shohei Ohtani is the starting pitcher sounds like a perfect respite from that bad news. But it wasn't.
First, oft-injured Angels third baseman Anthony Rendon left the game in the fourth inning due to a left shin bruise after fouling a ball off of it. X-rays were reportedly negative for any kind of fracture, but optimism has never been rewarding for a player who has been on the injured list seven times in his 2.5 seasons with the Angels.
The game went full nightmare in the sixth inning, when Xander Bogaerts and Jake Cronenworth hit back-to-back homers off Ohtani, marking the first time that has happened in his MLB career.
The @Padres provided some fireworks in back-to-back at-bats. 💥 pic.twitter.com/DDJKZhGvYY
— MLB (@MLB) July 5, 2023
Ohtani then exited the game with a trainer and was later announced to have left due to a blister issue. His previous start saw him leave because of a cracked fingernail.
The Angels lost the game 8-5, falling to 45-43 on the season.
The good news for the Angels is that Rendon's and Ohtani's injuries don't seem like the kind that will cause them to miss significant time (though you never know). A trip to the injured list for either wouldn't be too costly, given the upcoming All-Star break — placing them on the IL on Wednesday would require them to miss a minimum of four games, with a potential return July 15. At the very least, the blister will prevent Ohtani from pitching in the All-Star Game, as he told reporters after the game Tuesday that he no longer plans to pitch next week in Seattle.
After beginning the season in the mix for their first playoff spot since 2014, the Angels are once again in the familiar place of sitting just out of reach of a wild-card berth while navigating injuries with their stars and underperformance from their supporting cast.
With Ohtani's free agency looming in the coming offseason, a familiar place is the worst place to be when the two-way phenom has talked about wanting to play for a winning organization.
