Oakland, California – Shohei Ohtani batted second as the team’s designated hitter and went 0-for-3 with a walk instead of pitching in the Los Angeles Angels’ 5-0 loss against the Oakland Athletics on Thursday, after being forced to take public transportation to Oakland Coliseum.
Ohtani was not scheduled to hit and his pitching start was moved from Thursday to Friday after a team bus got stuck in traffic. Angels manager Joe Maddon told reporters Ohtani arrived an hour too late for his customary warmup.
The 26-year-old was on one of the Angels’ buses that could not make it across the Bay Bridge in time due to a traffic accident and resorted to taking the train from San Francisco to Oakland.
“There was an accident on the Bay Bridge, which caused us to take Plan B…. And there was an issue with the transfer,” manager Joe Maddon said before the game. “He’s pretty much regimented to get everything going about 4 o’clock for his (pitching) start, so that was exceeded by maybe an hour.”
Only Justin Upton and Juan Lagares got hits off Oakland’s Chris Bassitt (5-2), who threw a two-hit shutout. Bassitt struck out nine and walked just one of the 30 batters he faced.
For the Athletics, Mark Canha went 3-for-3, and Sean Murphy hit a two-run single off Angels reliever Aaron Slegers (2-2) to highlight a five-run sixth inning.
In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.
By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.
SUBSCRIBE NOW
