Forgive the Los Angeles Angels and their fans for being concerned about the health of Mike Trout.
The Angels superstar is worried about his condition, too.
The 11-time All-Star center fielder departed Los Angeles’ road game against the San Diego Padres on Monday after sustaining a wrist injury on a foul-ball swing. His status for the second game of the series on Tuesday — and perhaps for well beyond then — was unknown pending test results.
Trout was clearly in pain as he left the field holding the wrist in the eighth inning.
“I just took a swing and something felt uncomfortable,” Trout said. “Just waiting on getting some scans and hope for the best.”
Meanwhile, the Angels’ other superstar expects to do double duty on Tuesday.
Shohei Ohtani had his start pushed back two days due to a cracked right middle fingernail, but the right-hander will take the mound and get his cuts at the plate in the second game of the San Diego series.
The ailment, which occurred last Tuesday in Ohtani’s start against the Chicago White Sox, hasn’t kept Ohtani from batting in the interim. He is 6-for-21 (.286) with three homers and six walks in six games since.
“I think Ohtani is a must-see type of thing,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said. “Nobody has ever done this, so it’s as unique as you can possibly be in any sport.
“You look at his hitting numbers, it’s a thousand (on-base-plus-slugging percentage) against lefties, a thousand OPS against righties. And what he does on the mound … if you are coming out to watch one guy, this is him. That’s the kind of player he is right now. He’s entertaining and all of the above. And it seems like every year, he gets better and better.”
It was unclear whether Melvin was talking about Ohtani the hitter (.303 batting average, 31 homers, 68 RBIs, 1.054 OPS), or Ohtani the pitcher (7-3, 3.02 ERA, 1.038 WHIP, a .180 opponents’ batting average and an American League-leading 12 strikeouts per nine innings in 16 starts).
Ohtani will pitch against the Padres for the first time in his career in front of what is expected to be San Diego’s 35th sellout crowd of the season.
Over his last three starts, Ohtani is 2-1 with a 1.86 ERA.
“He definitely is fun to watch,” Angels manager Phil Nevin said. “There has really been only one player like him in the history of the game.”
The Padres will counter with Joe Musgrove (6-2, 3.80 ERA).
The right-hander is 2-0 over his last three starts with a 2.37 ERA. In seven starts since May 26, Musgrove is 5-0 with a 2.13 ERA.
Musgrove has a 3-1 career record against the Angels with a 2.88 ERA in seven appearances (three starts). However, he has faced Los Angeles only once since 2017, when he threw a three-hit, complete-game shutout on Aug. 27, 2021.
The Padres won the series opener 10-3 on Monday behind three RBIs apiece from Xander Bogaerts, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jake Cronenworth. San Diego has won two of their last three following a six-game losing streak.
The Angels have lost five of their past six games.
–Field Level Media