It had been 15 months since Matt Shoemaker last pitched at Angel Stadium, in a game in which the home team used Yunel Escobar as its cleanup batter.
It had been awhile indeed for Shoemaker, with two forearm surgeries in the interim, setting free a compressed nerve and repairing a torn tendon.
The box score was fine. Shoemaker took the defeat in the Angels’ 5-0 loss to the Seattle Mariners, but he struck out eight, walked none and endured two errors in his 42/3 innings.
No, the concern became evident in the fifth inning, when an athletic trainer rushed to see Shoemaker.