Shohei Ohtani to miss start with arm fatigue

HOUSTON — Two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani is dealing with arm fatigue that will cause him to skip his next start on the mound, but it didn’t stop him from hitting his American League-leading 41st homer of the year to help lead the Angels to a 2-1 win over the Astros on Sunday afternoon at Minute Maid Park.

Ohtani, who was slated to start on Tuesday in Texas, will now have his outing pushed back to a start against the Reds at Angel Stadium on either Aug. 21 or Aug. 22. Nevin stressed that he isn’t injured, but that Ohtani had asked on Saturday to skip just one turn through the rotation. His homer in the sixth inning off lefty reliever Parker Mushinski, which traveled a Statcast-projected 448 feet over the batter’s eye in center field at Minute Maid Park, proved he’s feeling just fine at the plate.

“Shohei asked to skip one start with what he said is some arm fatigue,” Nevin said. “There’s no pain or injury. Just some arm fatigue, so he’s gonna miss one start and get right back to where he was in his normal spot.”

Lefty Patrick Sandoval will start the series opener in Texas on Monday and right-hander Lucas Giolito will be moved up a day to start on Tuesday. Wednesday’s starter has yet to be announced but could be right-hander Griffin Canning, who was reinstated from the injured list on Sunday.

Ohtani, the heavy frontrunner to win American League Most Valuable Player honors for the second time in three years, has been pitching well recently. He hasn’t allowed an earned run over his past three starts, totaling 19 innings. Ohtani left his start with cramping in his right middle finger after having thrown four scoreless innings against the Mariners on Aug. 3, but he bounced back to allow one unearned run over six innings in a win over the Giants on Wednesday.

Ohtani was visibly agitated throughout that outing against San Francisco, however, and said after the game he was frustrated with his start. Nevin also said he could tell Ohtani was tired during his outing. So when Ohtani told Nevin on Saturday that he thought skipping a start would be best, Nevin quickly agreed.

“Like I’ve told you guys many times, he knows his body better than anybody,” Nevin said. “I trust him when he talks about it. He assured me there’s no pain, no injury. He’s got some regular arm fatigue that pitchers go through at times. I trust him when he tells me this and that he’ll be ready for his next time out.”

Ohtani, 29, has made 22 starts this season, posting a 3.17 ERA with 165 strikeouts in 130 2/3 innings. Last season, Ohtani threw a career-high 166 innings over 28 starts and had a 2.33 ERA with 219 strikeouts. He was on pace to throw roughly 180 innings this year, as he’s pitched on five days’ rest more often, but now that total will come down a bit with his skipped start.

Nevin added that Ohtani won’t need any time off at designated hitter, especially with an off-day coming on Thursday. He hit second in the lineup behind…