Shohei Ohtani’s first appearance on the mound with pitch clock goes smoothly

MESA, Ariz. — Shohei Ohtani knew coming into spring training that one of his biggest challenges would be the pitch clock.

The Angels two-way star made his first appearance as a pitcher in a game Tuesday. He threw 2 1/3 scoreless innings against the Oakland Athletics, striking out two and walking two, without a violation in his 34 pitches.

Ohtani started working with the PitchCom device this spring in order to call his own games. That saves time on the amount of signals he gives a catcher to get to the pitch he wants to throw.