On Monday night, the Angels saw Mike Trout suffer an injury in Game 1 of the series against the Padres. We hoped to avoid the worst, but in the end, he will have to be absent for several weeks.
It’s not ideal for the Angels who are finally at the peak of the playoff race.
Clearly, therefore, the team was going to need Shohei Ohtani to continue to perform at the height of the historical player that he is. And if Anthony Rendon, another big employee of the club, could help, it would not be too much.
But yesterday, obviously, was not the right day to be an Angels fan. After watching Trout be placed on injured reserve earlier in the day, Rendon injured himself when he hit a foul ball on his leg.
He had to leave the game.
And less than an hour later, another disaster struck the club: after allowing two consecutive homers, Ohtani was visibly uncomfortable at the mound. He also left the game.
When I told you it was a tough day for the Angels, now you understand why.
The good news, though, is that we seem to have avoided the worst of the worst yesterday: Rendon only has a bruise and the tests came back negative.
As for Ohtani, it would simply be a blister in the right middle finger. It’s the same finger that had bothered him during his previous departure, this time because of a cracked fingernail.
In fact, we can expect to see Rendon miss a few games (I don’t expect to see him again before the All-Star Game), but Ohtani could potentially still be available to strike in the last three games of the team before the break.
We may want to give him the day off tonight in the final game of the series against the Padres, but with a two-game series against the Dodgers awaiting the Angels on Friday and Saturday, a guy like Ohtani wouldn’t be too much in the roster, especially without Mike Trout.
Note also that the Padres won by the score of 8-5 yesterday. Xander Bogaerts and Jake Cronenworth each drove in three runs on the winning side.
In short, a blow for the Angels, who saw their three stars (and 44% of their payroll) fall in battle in less than 24 hours. At least Ohtani and Rendon seem to have avoided the worst, but we agree that it’s still not ideal.
- Dustin May will undergo another season-ending elbow surgery (the Dodgers hope to see him again mid-season next year). It’s really a pity.
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr. gave the victory to his team.
