Shohei Ohtani’s 1.04 ERA through two starts this year belies the incredible angst that it’s taken to get there.
You know that, of course, if you watched Tuesday night’s Los Angeles Angels game — Ohtani’s first on the mound in over two weeks. The results showed a scoreless outing — kept short by design — that helped the Angels to a victory. But, babying a blister that had sidelined the pitching part of his diverse skill set since an electrifying April 4 season debut, Ohtani’s four-seam fastball velocity was down and he threw fewer of them, too.