Los Angeles Angels right-hander Shohei Ohtani was scratched from his scheduled start on Thursday against the Oakland Athletics due to a traffic jam that occurred as a result of an accident on the Bay Bridge.
“That kept pushing him back,” Angels manager Joe Maddon said (h/t ESPN). “For us, Shohei’s most comfortable, he’s pretty much regimented to get everything going about 4 o’clock for his start. It exceeded that by maybe an hour, so we started calling the audible at that point to not pitch him tonight. And if we’re not going to pitch him, we’re going to DH him.”
Angels catcher Kurt Suzuki, who was a former Athletics fan favorite, was scratched as well due to the traffic. Suzuki will catch Ohtani on Friday night.
With Ohtani out, the Angels handed the ball to Patrick Sandoval who pitched five scoreless innings, but was outdone by Athletics pitcher Chris Bassitt.
