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| - Los Angeles Angels two-way standout Shohei Ohtani will pitch his first Major League Baseball game since 2018 next Sunday against Oakland and plans on making regular Sunday starts all season. The 26-year-old Japanese right-hander, who also serves as a designated hitter for the Angels, served only as a batter for the club in 2019 after "Tommy John" tendon replacement surgery. "Obviously, I'm very excited to be back on the mound. It has been almost two years," Ohtani said through a translator in a posting on the league website. The Angels are set to open the coronavirus delayed and shortened MLB season Friday at Oakland with Ohtani batting before making his mound return in the third game of the series. "I want to be prepared to be in the lineup on Opening Day as a hitter and then hopefully we can win the first two games and get some momentum into the third game, which I think I'm going to start," he said. Ohtani was the 2018 American League Rookie of the Year after batting .285 with 22 home runs, 10 stolen bases and 61 runs batted in plus a 4-2 record in 10 pitching starts with a 3.31 earned-run average and 63 strikeouts. Babe Ruth, a legend from a century ago, was the only other player who managed 10 pitching appearances and 20 homers in an MLB season. Ohtani pitched his last pre-season tuneup Sunday in an intra-squad game, allowing one run over five innings with six strikeouts and four walks. The Angels plan for using Ohtani is similar to 2018, when he threw on Sundays and took days off Saturday and Monday. It helps that the Angels have three Mondays off during the season. Barring injury, the schedule would set up Ohtani for 10 starts this season and 33 appearances as a designated hitter in 60 Angels games. "It looks like going on Sundays is the best option," Ohtani said. "We have the most off-days on Monday. I'm not going to hit the following day so it gives me a chance to rest up." js/bgs
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