Shohei Ohtani needs no break, but Angels lose after José Quintana’s short start

In years past, Shohei Ohtani would have likely watched Tuesday’s game from the dugout.

The two-way star was coming off a double-duty performance Monday, when he threw 75 pitches and came to the plate four times. He’d played in each of the first 21 games of the season, 20 of which included him in the starting lineup.

But rather than a scripted day off, the Angels instead stuck to their goal of removing restrictions on the 26-year-old’s playing time. Once Ohtani told manager Joe Maddon he was good to play again Tuesday, Maddon happily agreed.

“I said, ‘You got it,’” Maddon said. “Not gonna argue.”

Ohtani went hitless in the Angels’ 6-1 loss to the Texas Rangers, a game in which the team fell behind early after starter José Quintana gave up five runs in 31/3 innings, then squandered chances to rally by leaving nine men on base and going just two for 11 with runners in scoring position.

But Ohtani’s continued presence in the lineup is a source of optimism for the Angels, a development that has even surprised Maddon through the season’s first four weeks.

“There’s a lot of positive adrenaline rolling within him right now,” Maddon said. “So let’s play that all the way out.”

Here are three more observations from Tuesday:

More Ohtani news

Maddon said that the team’s training staff was not concerned about the blister hot spot that had begun to develop on Ohtani’s right middle finger Monday, optimistic that the Angels’ decision to remove Ohtani after only five innings will prevent his finger from becoming an issue.

Maddon also said that catcher Kurt Suzuki will probably continue to be behind the plate for Ohtani’s starts.

Suzuki has caught two of Ohtani’s three regular-season outings this season, including Monday. They were also paired together for three of Ohtani’s four spring training appearances.

“Shohei is a real creature of habit,” Maddon said. “I would like to keep that consistent with him.”

Suzuki isn’t as strong of a pitch framer as Max Stassi, having been ranked in the bottom half of MLB catchers five of the last six years in Baseball Savant’s framing calculation.

But the 15-year veteran has earned a reputation as a skilled battery mate and game manager, praised by Maddon for a “strong-willed” style that the manager said helped Ohtani overcome some early command issues in his latest pitching start.

Trout remains hot

Mike Trout hasn’t missed a beat since returning from a three-game absence because of an elbow injury, following up a four-hit display in his first game back Monday with a two-for-four performance Tuesday. He leads the majors in OPS (1.353) and FanGraphs’ version of wins above replacement (1.8).

In the third inning, Trout smoked a 109-mph line drive into left for a double. In the fifth, he beat an infield single that loaded the bases with two outs.

The latter hit fueled the Angels’ best chance at a rally, bringing Anthony Rendon to the plate as the potential tying run in what was a 5-1 game. But, Rendon flied out to right to end the inning. Since making his own return from injury Monday, Rendon has gone 0 for 8 with a walk.

“We just have to keep throwing him out there, giving him at-bats,” Maddon said of Rendon, who had previously been out since April 10 with a groin strain. “Watched him in pregame, he looked outstanding. Talking to him, he feels wonderful. It’s one of those things you have to work through.”

Quintana struggles, ERA balloons

Tuesday was the third time in four starts that Quintana failed to finish the fourth inning, raising his season ERA to 10.13. Not only did Quintana struggle with command against the Rangers, throwing only 39 of 66 pitches for strikes, but he gave up hard contact as well, yielding his first two home runs of the season in the first and third innings.

Maddon said Quintana is “not off badly,” pointing to the left-hander’s steady low-90s-mph fastballs. But, Quintana was unable to consistently throw his secondary pitches for strikes, allowing an aggressive Rangers’ lineup to attack in hitter’s counts.

“I’d like to do the postmortem and find out the breakdown in pitches, what he wasn’t executing well in different moments,” Maddon said. “Because when the number says 92 [mph], he normally pitches well.”

Quintana had tinkered with his delivery ahead of his previous start, finding more consistency with his command after moving closer to the first-base side of the pitching rubber. But he couldn’t replicate that success Tuesday, striking out only two batters while surrendering two walks and six hits.

“Tonight was hard,” Quintana said. “I need to turn the page.”