The right-hander seemed fine, with the exception of some command issues and a slight dip in velocity, through four innings of a 4-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals, allowing one run and four hits, striking out four and walking three.
A 20-second examination of the middle finger of Ohtani’s pitching hand, where a blister had formed, yielded a swift decision. Ohtani was pulled in favor of reliever Jim Johnson.
“He started to feel it somewhere in the third or fourth inning,” Scioscia said. “We talked to him between innings to see how it would feel. He didn’t look good in his warmups, and we went out to talk to him.