Angels try to stay positive after Mike Trout goes to IL and Shohei Ohtani is hurt
Star outfielder Mike Trout was optimistic about his chances of returning to the lineup as quickly as possible after he joined the Angels’ swelling injured list Tuesday, but a blister issue likely will prevent Shohei Ohtani from pitching in the All-Star Game next week.
Trout was diagnosed with a hamate fracture in his left wrist, which can take four to eight weeks to heal. The Angels did not give a timeline for his recovery from the injury he suffered during Monday night’s series-opening loss in San Diego.
Regarding a timetable on Trout’s injury, manager Phil Nevin said: “You never really know. All the time you hear bone, it’s whatever six, eight [weeks] ... I’ve seen guys come back quicker than that, and I’ve seen it be a little longer than that.”
The Angels’ injury problems continued during Tuesday’s 8-5 loss to the Padres at Petco Park. They pulled two-way star Ohtani from the mound in the sixth inning after he gave up back-to-back homers due to a blister on his right middle finger.
After the game, Ohtani said the injury was a continuation of a cracked fingernail problem he experienced during his last start.
The Angels opened a series against the Padres with a 10-3 loss in San Diego where manager Phil Nevin played and grew close with the late Kevin Towers. Late in the game, Mike Trout exited with a wrist injury.
After Tuesday’s game, Ohtani, speaking through an interpreter, said he hopes the time off until his next pitching start for the Angels after the All-Star break will allow his finger to heal. He said he does not plan on pitching in Tuesday’s All-Star Game at Seattle, and if his finger continues to be a problem, he won’t be able to participate in the Home Run Derby on Monday either.
Ohtani said he was unsure whether the blister will impact his hitting and he will work with the team to determine whether he can play during the next three games.
The Angels suffered an additional injury in Tuesday’s game. Third baseman Anthony Rendon, who just returned from the injured list Friday, left the game limping after he fouled a pitch off his left shin in the fourth inning.
X-rays came back negative, but Rendon had crutches and said it didn’t feel great to walk. The Angels will soon determine whether Rendon will need another IL stint. “It doesn’t look great,” Rendon said.
Trout, who has faced long spells on the injured list in the past, was frustrated that his work to prevent injuries this season didn’t help him stay in the lineup.
“My body’s feeling great,” said Trout, who suffered the wrist injury while fouling off a pitch in the eighth inning of Monday night’s 10-3 loss. “Just getting the routine and staying with it, getting the treatment. My body’s feeling great, and then just a freak thing happens.
“It’s nothing crazy serious. Obviously, I’m gonna miss a little bit of time, but it’s not season-ending.”
The Angels recalled Jo Adell from triple A to replace Trout on the roster.
In Tuesday’s loss, the Angels struggled against Padres starter Joe Musgrove (7-2). The right-hander held the Angels to one run — Hunter Renfroe’s fifth-inning homer — and three hits.
Adell, who came into the game in the ninth as a pinch-hitter for Ohtani, hit an RBI triple and later scored on a sacrifice fly. Four walks and one hit batter in the ninth allowed the Angels to score two additional runs, but it wasn’t enough.
Ohtani kept the Padres scoreless for the first three innings, but Jake Cronenworth hit a two-run double in the fourth to put San Diego up 2-0.
In the sixth, Ohtani gave up consecutive home runs to Xander Bogaerts and Cronenworth. A trainer came out to check on Ohtani, inspecting his finger and he was removed.
The Angels (45-43) have 14 players on the injured list, including four regular starters — Trout, Brandon Drury (left shoulder bruise), Zach Neto (oblique strain) and Gio Urshela (left pelvis fracture, out for season) — who played important roles in helping the team move up the standings and stay in playoff contention.
Reid Detmers may only have a 2-5 record but there’s no Angels pitcher who is performing better these days. On Sunday, he helped them end a four-game slide.
Neto and Drury could return soon after the All-Star break, but for now the Angels will have to work with their current roster barring any trades.
Nevin held a team meeting ahead of Tuesday’s game to address the injuries.
“Everybody in there knows you’re gonna have bumps in the road here once in a while, and we’ve had some guys go down,” Nevin said. “We’ve kind of had that motto since the beginning of the season when those things happen: It’s the next man up and we keep playing.
“No one’s gonna feel sorry for us, and no reason for us to do the same.”
Adell, back up for the third time this season, said the circumstances for his return weren’t great but he’s ready to compete.
“No one wants to see Mike go down for any length of time,” Adell said. “But I’m gonna come in, hopefully do my job and keep this thing rocking.”
Tim Fletcher, who died earlier this month, was always there for sons David and Dominic. They faced off at Angel Stadium Friday with heavy hearts.
Adell had a .956 on-base-plus-slugging percentage and 23 home runs in triple A, including a 514-foot homer last month that was the farthest Statcast-tracked home run hit in a minor league ballpark.
Amid the added injuries Tuesday, Rendon said Angels general manager Perry Minasian has done well in maintaining the team’s depth but that it would be tested.
Added Ohtani in Japanese on the importance of the next three games: “I think the games from now to the All-Star break are the most important. If we can win in good form, I think we very much have a chance.”
The Angels will spend more time evaluating Trout’s injury before setting up his recovery plan.
Hamate fractures, like any bone fracture, require weeks to heal, according to Dr.Alan Beyer, an orthopedic surgeon who is the executive medical director of the Hoag Orthopedic Institute. Beyer is not Trout’s physician, but he provided The Times with more general information about wrist fractures.
The Angels used to light the ‘Big A’ at Angel Stadium after victories. That’s changed. It’s time to go back to the way it used to be.
Hamate fractures rarely require surgery to heal, though some patients have surgery to remove the fractured piece if it does not heal, Beyer said. The average return time to full activity once the bone heals is six to eight weeks. Some with the fractures, however, have resumed regular activity in about one month.
Cleveland’s José Ramírez, for example, fractured his hamate while foul tipping a ball during a game in August 2019. Ramírez had surgery to repair the injury and returned to his team in September, slightly more than four weeks after he got hurt.
“I’ve had a lot of guys reach out that’ve had the surgery before, had this injury before,” Trout said. “I don’t know if I have to have surgery or not. I’ll know in the next couple of days.
“Some guys came back in four weeks, some guys longer. Just see how my body heals.”
Times staff writer Dylan Hernández contributed to this article.
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