Blame it on the Rain
Ohtani was throwing flaming strikes and Fiers was on fire but Mother Nature intervened in the match and I blame it on the rain that neither of the good starts resulted in a win.
Steping back a bit, with Tuesday’s win, the Angels are 4–4 on their current road trip and Wednesday they turned to their two-way rookie star, Shohei Ohtani to take the mound. Entering the game, Shohei was 4–1 with a 3.35 ERA and this was his first appearance against Detroit. With Kinsler, Valbuena, and Maldonado homering on Tuesday I was hoping the offense stayed hot to support Shohei.
Rain Ruins a Good Game
I suppose the good news from the game Wednesday was that Shohei pitched well. He went 5 innings only because rain kept stopping play, he could easily have pitched more if Mother Nature let him. And he was on fire when he was pitching, reaching 101.1 mph – the fastest by any starting pitcher this year.
In any case, the rain caused him to leave early but he still dropped his ERA to 3.18 after giving up a run over those 5 innings. He also struck out 5 to make his total for May, 31 Ks.
Needless to say, Ohtani did not factor into the decision since after he left, Detroit scored 5 runs. Yup, the bullpen surprisingly gave up a boatload of runs.
While the team lost there was a bit of a silver lining other that Ohtani…Both Kinsler and Valbuena got 2 hits, and with Ian going 2 for 3 he made it above the Mendoza line finally. Let’s hope this breakout continues.
While I could easily give Kinsler my Player of the Game I actually award it to Ohtani since if it wasn’t for the rain, he would have kept going strong, I’m sure.
Another close competitor for my Player of the Game is the goose who lead stadium officials on a wild goose chase…
Today, the Angels send Andrew Heaney to the mound to finish off the 4 game series. Heaney is making his first start aginst Detroit as well and is carrying a 3.09 ERA with a 2–3 record. He’s pitching against lefty Ryan Carpenter who’s 3–2 with a 3.90 ERA.
Daily Ramble 251.2 | Sports – Angels – Blame it on the Rain