Shohei Ohtani hits 40th HR after start cut short due to finger cramps - ESPN

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Shohei Ohtani was removed from Thursday night's game as a pitcher due to what he said was cramping in his right middle finger.

The Los Angeles Angels right-hander pitched four scoreless innings against the Mariners and threw only 59 pitches, but Jose Soriano replaced him for the start of the fifth.

Ohtani stayed in the game as a hitter, however, and continued to shine.

He was intentionally walked, stole second base and came around to score the tying run in the sixth inning. Then, in the eighth, he became the first player in the majors this season to hit 40 home runs, doing so on a solo shot to right field.

According to Elias Sports Bureau, he's the first player in the live ball era (since 1920) to reach base safely four times (he also singled in the first and was walked in the fourth), hit a home run, steal a base and not allow a run on the mound in the same game.

The only negative: It came in a loss, as Mariners rookie Cade Marlowe hit his first career grand slam in the ninth to rally Seattle to a 5-3 win.

Ohtani, a clear front-runner for the American League MVP, battled a blister in his right middle finger for the better part of July, but it has since subsided.

He was removed because of leg cramps in the second game of a doubleheader in Detroit last Thursday, then in the ninth inning in Toronto the following night for the same reason.

After Thursday's game, he said he doesn't yet know if he'll need to skip a start due to the finger cramping.