Angels starting pitcher Patrick Sandoval, center, is checked out for an arm injury during the third inning of their game against the Dodgers on Friday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Angels starting pitcher Patrick Sandoval throws to the plate during the second inning of their game against the Dodgers on Friday night at Dodger Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Angels starting pitcher Patrick Sandoval throws to the plate during the first inning of their game against the Dodgers on Friday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Angels starting pitcher Patrick Sandoval throws to the plate during the second inning of their game against the Dodgers on Friday night at Dodger Stadium. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
Angels starting pitcher Patrick Sandoval winces after an arm injury during the third inning of their game against the Dodgers on Friday night at Dodger Stadium. Sandoval then came out of the game with what was initially diagnosed as left forearm tightness. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Angels starting pitcher Patrick Sandoval leaves the field with a trainer after suffering an arm injury during the third inning of their game against the Dodgers on Friday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Angels starting pitcher Patrick Sandoval, center, walks to the dugout comforted by Manager Ron Washington, left, after suffering an arm injury during the third inning of their game against the Dodgers on Friday night at Dodger Stadium. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
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LOS ANGELES — Angels pitcher Patrick Sandoval now has a more serious concern than his struggle to rediscover his success on the mound.
Sandoval came out of his start against the Dodgers on Friday night with what was initially diagnosed as left forearm tightness.
“It’s something I’ve never felt before,” Sandoval said after the game. “It’s pretty scary.”
Sandoval said he’ll undergo an MRI exam on Saturday, but he had trouble maintaining an optimistic tone in the meantime.
“My spirits are pretty low right now because it’s pretty fresh, but we’ll see,” Sandoval said.
Sandoval said he began to feel something during the third-inning at-bat against Shohei Ohtani, his former teammate, but he remained in the game.
“I felt it in the middle of the at-bat, but I tried to push through it because I wanted to strike him out,” Sandoval said.
After the final pitch was called ball four, Sandoval emphatically motioned to the dugout. He was met by athletic trainer Matt Biancuzzo, Manager Ron Washington and pitching coach Barry Enright. Sandoval walked off the mound a few minutes later.
“Really painful,” Sandoval said of the feeling. “I don’t know how else to explain it.”
Further testing will reveal the significance of the injury that adds another frustrating chapter to his disappointing two-season stretch. Sandoval now has a 5.08 ERA, following his 4.11 mark last season.
A 27-year-old product of Mission Viejo High, Sandoval looked to be a long-term rotation answer after he had a 3.17 ERA in 2021 and 2022. He was a member of Team Mexico in the World Baseball Classic in 2023.
Now, he is another question mark in a rotation that is down to just two healthy pitchers from the start of the season: left-hander Tyler Anderson and right-hander Griffin Canning.
Right-hander Zach Plesac was recently called up and immediately stepped into the spot vacated when right-hander José Soriano went on the injured list.
Assuming Sandoval goes on the injured list, the Angels would have two holes in their rotation. They never called up a starter to replace Reid Detmers after he was sent to Triple-A.
With Plesac scheduled to pitch on Saturday and an off day on Sunday, the Angels could use Canning and Anderson for the Monday and Tuesday games against the Oakland A’s. They would need pitchers for Wednesday and Friday.
Soriano, who is out with an abdominal infection, is expected back as soon as he’s eligible, on July 2.
To fill the other rotation hole, the Angels could bring back Detmers. After giving up seven runs in his first Triple-A start, he has allowed two runs in 13 innings in his last two.
Right-hander Chase Silseth, who has been rehabbing from elbow inflammation, has also now pitched three times at Triple-A. He gave up five runs on Friday, lifting his ERA to 10.22 at Salt Lake.
In the meantime, the Angels will wait to learn just how serious the injury to Sandoval is.
“You’ve always got concern when you’re talking about a pitcher and his arm,” Washington said. “We’ve just got to wait and see where it goes from there.”
