Shohei Ohtani’s great start to the day did not translate into a long afternoon.
The Angels star — who homered at the plate in the first inning — exited the first game of a doubleheader in Anaheim against the Reds in the second inning with arm fatigue, ending his first outing in two weeks at just 26 pitches.
Ohtani had struck out two batters and walked one before exiting the game, accompanied by manager Phil Nevin and trainer Mike Frostad.
The right-hander threw a 94-mph fastball and then came out of the game in the middle of the at-bat against Christian Encarnacion-Strand with the count at 2-2.
Tyler Anderson entered in relief while Nolan Schanuel took the superstar’s place in the lineup.
It was surely a frustrating turn of events for Ohtani, who had started off the game well.
The two-way threat hit a two-run homer off Reds starter Andrew Abbott in the first inning for his 44th dinger of the season.
But the arm fatigue issue isn’t something new for Ohtani.
The frontrunner for American League MVP had his previous start pushed back, as the Angels cited the same ailment as the reason to move the outing.
Additionally, Ohtani’s velocity appeared to be down during his brief stint on the mound Wednesday, with his fastball sitting between 91 and 94 mph.
His heater’s velocity was 96.9 mph coming into the game, per Baseball Savant.
The Japanese superstar had also dealt with a blister on his pitching hand in the lead-up to the All-Star game, along with cramps, but did play through them.
Going into Wednesday’s game, Ohtani had a 3.17 ERA and 165 strikeouts.
At the plate, he was hitting .304 with a 1.074 OPS.
The Angels were leading 2-0 at the time he left the game but were down 8-4 in the bottom of the seventh.
After the Angels wrap up the doubleheader with the Reds, they’ll travel to New York for a three-game series with the Mets.