SAN DIEGO — Hours after placing All-Star outfielder Mike Trout on the 10-day injured list with a broken left wrist, the Los Angeles Angels saw their run of bad injury luck continue in their game Tuesday night against the San Diego Padres.
Third baseman Anthony Rendon was removed from the Angels’ 8-5 loss in the fourth inning after fouling a ball off his leg; the team said he has a left shin contusion and that X-rays were negative. Then two-way star Shohei Ohtani departed with a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand after giving up consecutive home runs to Xander Bogaerts and Jake Cronenworth with none out in the sixth inning. He allowed five runs and seven hits, struck out five and walked four.
The right-hander’s start had been pushed back a day due to a cracked nail, the same finger on which he developed the blister. He left his previous start as a pitcher but remained in the game as the designated hitter and homered, giving him 10 strikeouts and two home runs in a 4-2 win against the Chicago White Sox.
This time, Ohtani made the last out at the plate in the top of the sixth and was replaced by pinch-hitter Jo Adell at DH in the ninth.
Ohtani told reporters he wasn’t sure how the blister would impact him at the plate over the next three games before the All-Star break, and also said he doesn’t expect to pitch in next week’s Midsummer Classic in Seattle. Ohtani became a two-way All-Star for the third straight year when he was picked for the American League pitching staff by players on Sunday, 10 days after fans voted him to start at designated hitter.
Rendon was on crutches after Tuesday’s game and indicated he was still in a lot of pain. When asked if he expects to go on the IL, Rendon said he’ll know more Wednesday but “it’s not looking good.”
The Angels will already be without Trout for several weeks. The three-time AL MVP said he still anticipates returning this season despite a broken hamate bone suffered when he fouled off a pitch Monday night.
“Of course,” Trout said Tuesday, a few hours after the Angels announced he was placed on the injured list.
“I’ve had other guys reach out who’ve had this surgery before or had this injury before. I don’t know if it’s going to need surgery or not. We’ll know in the next couple of days, I guess. Some guys came back in four weeks; some guys take a little longer just to see how their body heals.”
The slugger fouled off a 0-1 pitch from Nick Martinez leading off the eighth inning on Monday and immediately shook his left arm. Angels manager Phil Nevin and a trainer came out to check on him, and Trout left the game.
“I kind of knew it wasn’t good. It’s another freak thing,” Trout said. “It’s nothing crazy serious, so obviously I’m going to miss a little bit of time, but it’s not season-ending.”
Trout was selected to his 11th All-Star team on Sunday and 10th straight as a starter. He was hitting .263 with 18 home runs and 44 RBIs.
Trout said he had been feeling well before the injury and that it’s going to be tough to miss the All-Star Game.
“I was really looking forward to it,” he said. “It’s frustrating.”
Houston Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker will replace Trout on the AL roster.
Speaking to reporters before Tuesday’s game, Nevin said the team was going to get one more medical opinion on Trout’s wrist but that “usually these things need to be fixed.”
“To be quite honest,” the manager continued, “when I went out there, I kind of had an idea. I’ve had players before that have done this, the feelings he had.
“When you feel something go or anything like that, you worry about a lot of things, but thankfully it’s a bone. It’s not a ligament or anything like that. Guys have come back from this and did fine and played. Mike will be back with us at some point this year. I know he’s hungry. I also know he’s hurting too. It’s tough to see.”
Nevin said Mickey Moniak and Adell will fill in for Trout in center field. Adell was recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake, along with right-hander Gerardo Reyes. Moniak started Tuesday against Padres right-hander Joe Musgrove. Moniak grew up in northern San Diego County and was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 amateur draft by the Philadelphia Phillies.
Nevin said he spoke with players and the coaching staff to reassure them that the Angels are still in good shape. They’re two games above .500 and in third place in the AL West, seven games behind the Texas Rangers and four games out of the third wild-card spot.
Nevin said he doesn’t want Ohtani, who leads the majors with 31 homes, “to try to do too much. Obviously, everybody’s like, ‘Well you’ve still got Shohei.’ He’s going to get his pitches to hit. You can’t walk him every time. He’s going to go up and take quality at-bats and not try to do too much.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
