If his first inning against the Oakland A’s was any indication, then Shohei Ohtani was holding back during spring training.
Ohtani looked great in the first inning of his MLB debut on Sunday in Oakland. He retired the A’s 1-2-3, striking out Marcus Semien and Matt Olson, while getting Jed Lowrie to foul out behind the plate.
Ohtani touched 96 mph on his first pitch of the game. He also hit 100 mph in the inning. He showed some good stuff too, as he struck out both Olson and Semien on splitters.
The Japanese star threw 13 pitches in the first, nine of which went for strikes. His first hit allowed came against Matt Joyce, the fifth batter of the game. He allowed another hit to Stephen Piscotty, and then Matt Chapman followed with a 3-run home run to left center.
Ohtani’s issue early was that his slider was flat. He wasn’t getting much break on it and kept hanging it. Chapman finally made him pay for that.
