Shohei Ohtani was mentioned in Joe Maddon’s pregame and postgame news conferences on Friday.
In the afternoon, the Angels manager announced the two-way star would have his next pitching start, originally scheduled for Tuesday against the Cleveland Indians, pushed back one to three days as a precaution after Maddon sensed some fatigue had carried over from Ohtani’s last outing on the mound earlier this week.
But on Friday night, while serving as designated hitter in the Angels’ series-opening loss against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, Ohtani appeared to be at full strength, hitting a double off the Green Monster in his first at-bat before clearing it for a solo home run in the sixth inning.