Shohei Ohtani Struggles with Blister, Suffers First Bump in the Road

There was plenty of Angels and Ohtani-related gear available at a shop adjacent to the bar, where sales staff stressed how hard it had been to ensure the shelves were stocked enough to keep up with demand.

A sellout crowd of 44,822, the second-largest since the 1998 renovation of Angel Stadium, packed the house in anticipation of another pitching gem by Ohtani, the Japanese right-hander who was dominant in his first two starts. This will be his first start against the Red Sox in his career.

Romero watched Ohtani play seven times as an amateur. That’s quite a contrast from a year ago, when Boston’s infielders struggled mightily with run prevention.

Through two starts, Ohtani would compile 18 strikeouts to just two walks. The Sox’s starters have since gone 9-1 with a 2.06 ERA, and lead the Majors in quality starts.

As a unit, Los Angeles’ pitchers have given up 4.1 runs per game overall this season. Heath Hembree got the win to improve to 2-0 this season, while Craig Kimberly notched his 5th save of the year. The team has hit.263/.316/.397 over its last five games and is 3-2 SU during that span.

Trout seemed to have a little trouble hitting lefties at home a year ago. The 2016 American League Cy Young Award victor tossed six shutout innings, allowing six hits while striking out six and walking zero. Over 49 such plate appearances, he slashed.150/.306/.350 (compared to his total season line of.306/.442/.629). Velazquez has a 2-0 record with a 3.29 ERA through 13.2 innings.

Red-hot shortstop Xander Bogaerts is on the DL with an ankle injury, but the offense has kept rolling, Barstool Sports detailed.

In nine of Boston’s last 10 games, they have scored four or more runs in at least one inning. This started a chain of events that would wipe out much of his 2017 season after he reinjured it playing for the national team against Mexico and the Netherlands in November, when he raised eyebrows by hitting into the ceiling at Tokyo Dome.

Red Sox: Rick Porcello (3-0, 1.83 ERA) took a no-hitter into the seventh inning of his last start against the Yankees. “The 6’3” slugger has hit three home runs since April 7th after failing to go yard in his first six games. However, Boston took the following three games, and a two-game set against the Miami Marlins before heading back to Boston.

Former Red Sox global scouts Jon Deeble and Eddie Romero visited Ohtani at his high school and spent two years scouting him, according to Boston’s radio station WEEI. OH typically plays four-to-five games per week, and Klein’s lone pitching appearance as a starter usually falls on one of the three weekend games.

On July 10, Ohtani hit his first home run as a professional.