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One night after serving as both hitter and starting pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels, Shohei Ohtani is out of the team’s lineup for Friday’s game against the Seattle Mariners.
Lorenzen's on the bump at SEA
— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) June 18, 2022
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Mike Trout will fill Ohtani’s role as the designated hitter while Juan Lagares will get a start in center field.
After pulling double duty Thursday and with a doubleheader on deck Saturday, manager Phil Nevin decided to give the 2021 American League MVP the night off. Ohtani has missed only one game since the start of May.
Phil Nevin said he’s the one who approached Shohei Ohtani for a day off today. He’ll be in the lineup for both games of the doubleheader tomorrow and pitched six scoreless last night despite the team getting in at 4 am after Wednesday night’s game in LA
— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) June 18, 2022
Ohtani will make up for Friday’s off night by playing in both ends of the doubleheader.
As a hitter, Ohtani hasn’t been as otherworldly this season compared to last, but 13 homers and an .823 OPS are still pretty dang good. Plus, he has registered a healthy .315/.383/.537 slash line in 14 games this month. He has also hit five home runs in 21 career games at Seattle’s T-Mobile Park, tied for his most at any road stadium.
As a pitcher, Ohtani has been rock-solid with a 3.28 ERA and a better than 5-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio through 60.1 innings.