Shohei Ohtani to start Friday night against Athletics after traffic delay

Shohei Ohtani will be making his seventh start for the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night at 9:40 p.m. ET against the Oakland Athletics. The game will air on Bally Sports West, NBC Sports California, the MLB app, and MLB.tv.

Ohtani was scheduled to pitch on Thursday night in the series opener, but had traffic issues getting to the ballpark in Oakland. The team bus was on their way to the Oakland Coliseum, but was delayed due to an accident. Then the Angels tried to get to the ballpark using BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit), but there was a transfer issue causing Ohtani to arrive an hour late to the field.

In his last outing against the Cleveland Indians, Ohtani saw his velocity take a dip, but he still managed to record 5 strikeouts in 4.2 IP. On the season, the two-way star has a record of 1-0 and an ERA of 2.37. The Angels hope that Ohtani can pitch the way that he did vs. the Houston Astros earlier this month on Friday night. Against the Astros, the 26-year-old had a season-high 10 strikeouts and only allowed 4 hits, 1 earned run, 1 walk in 7.0 IP.