Red Sox

Rain muddies Marathon Monday for Red Sox and Shohei Ohtani

Boston has faced multiple rain delays throughout the day.

By Peyton Doyle

April 17, 2023

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Baseball fans looking to see Shohei Ohtani pitch against the Red Sox on Marathon Monday had to fight off more than just traffic to see the Angels star.

Boston’s 11 a.m. matchup saw constant challenges when it came to the day’s weather, beginning with an hour-long rain delay to first pitch.

While the game finally got going just after noon, the weather remained an issue. Ohtani, who was both hitting and pitching on Monday, decided to take some extra precautions when he reached base.

Once he was on first, following a single off Brayan Bello, Ohtani donned a jacket to keep himself warm, not something often seen in baseball since the universal DH rule came into place.

After a stretch of relatively dry weather and an offensive explosion by the Angels (five runs in two innings), the rain returned to Fenway.

The issue became most evident during the game when the grounds crew had to stop Ohtani mid warmup in the second inning in order to dry and repair the muddy mound.

After the grounds crew did their work, it appeared as if the game would be ready to resume but then another obstacle arose. Whether it was because of the sustained subjection to the rain or a simple malfunction, the PitchCom that Ohtani uses to call his pitches failed.

Once resolved, Ohtani breezed through the three Red Sox he saw in the second inning. Ohtani tossed 12 pitches in the inning, striking out two and forcing a fly out.

A few minutes later, after Bello appeared to be getting into a groove of his own with back-to-back strikeouts, another rain delay was called.

The second delay, which lasted more than an hour, marked the end of Ohtani’s day as Tucker Davidson came in to replace him.