Canha, Ohtani scuffle much ado about nothing, Melvin says originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
Mark Canha might have a hidden bullseye attached to him that only pitchers can see.
He leads MLB in hit by pitches with 11, but before he tallied the most recent one, Los Angeles Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani caused quite a stir on Friday night.
In the bottom of the third of the A’s 3-1 win, Ohtani threw a ball high and tight to Canha.
This is what happened next:
Canha was heated, naturally. The fastball measured at 93 mph, but it also appeared Ohtani was remorseful raising his hand up to seemingly apologize as the benches cleared.
Angels catcher Kurt Suzuki acted as a buffer and Canha immediately calmed down.
Later on, however, in the bottom of the sixth, Canha would get hit by a pitch. He was way calmer at this point, even smiled. Ohtani was visibly frustrated which showed as he landed on the dirt with a grimace.
A’s manager Bob Melvin was asked if the original scuffle between the two was much ado about nothing.
“Yeah, that’s what it ended up being, yeah,” Melvin said.
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As far as comparing the two, Canha typically has a calm demeanor about him so the initial reaction was a rare sight.
“Sometimes certain things just upset you at it looked like the ball was going right for his face and he just reacted,” Melvin said. “That’s the way it is — just an emotional game. Didn’t react at all the time he got hit. He’s used to getting hit, it’s not the first time, won’t be the last, but I think it was just the one that it looked like kind of it was coming at your face and you just emotionally react. I don’t think it played out after that. Certainly didn’t after he got hit.”