A traffic jam kept Shohei Ohtani from making it to the ballpark in time for his regular pregame pitching routine, and the Los Angeles Angels scratched him from his scheduled start Thursday night against the Oakland Athletics.

He was shifted to designated hitter.

"That kept pushing him back," Joe Maddon said. "For us, Shohei's most comfortable, he's pretty much regimented to get everything going about 4 o'clock for his start. It exceeded that by maybe an hour, so we started calling the audible at that point to not pitch him tonight. And if we're not going to pitch him, we're going to DH him."

Ohtani was in the lineup batting second against the A's and went 0-for-3 with a walk.

Major League Baseball has placed Mickey Callaway on the ineligible list through the end of the 2022 season following an investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct.

In a statement, Rob Manfred wrote that the investigation "concluded that Mr. Callaway violated MLB's policies and that placement on the ineligible list is warranted."

The Los Angeles Angels issued a follow-up statement announcing they had fired Callaway as their pitching coach, adding: "We appreciate Major League Baseball's diligent investigation and support their decision."

The New York Mets have acquired outfielder Billy McKinney from the Milwaukee Brewers for Minor League pitcher Pedro Quintana.

McKinney, 26, is a former first-round pick. The Mets have struggled with injuries as of late.

A group of minority owners of the Tampa Bay Rays have filed a lawsuit against principal owner Stuart Sternberg.

The group alleges Sternberg had been negotiating to sell an interest in the team to Montreal investors in 2014, without the minority owners' knowledge, per a report.

The plaintiffs accuse Sternberg of acquiring more stakes in the team while also negotiating to sell an interest in the team to Canadian businessman Stephen Bronfman and his Montreal Baseball Group.

The Milwaukee Brewers have called up Keston Hiura from Triple-A Nashville.

Hiura, 24, was sent down to Triple-A on May 3 with the hope that he would be able to work through some issues at the plate.

Over his first 26 games in 2021, Hiura hit .152/.247/.266 and struck out in 36 percent of his plate appearances.

He hit .438/.526/.906 with a 1.433 OPS and four home runs in Triple-A.

On Monday night, Hiura went 1-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.

The Athletics announced earlier this month that they will look at other cities for a new home if Oakland did not approve the team's plans for a new waterfront ballpark.

According to a report, team executives will travel to Las Vegas and Portland to hear pitches from both cities.

The A's proposed Howard Terminal Stadium has spent years in limbo and undergone three major redesigns in the past four years.

Tony La Russa led the Chicago White Sox against the St. Louis Cardinals in the opener of a three-game series.

La Russa led the Cardinals to a pair of World Series titles earlier in his managerial career.

"It's definitely a different series," La Russa said. "It's uncomfortable, it's distracting and you just try to tune it out, but I know it's a different series."

"I used to say this about managing against Jim Leyland: When you're friends, you don't want your friends to have a bad day. That's why you're glad when the three games are over," he said.

The White Sox defeated the Cardinals 5-1 on Monday night.

Michael Conforto and Jeff McNeil have hamstring injuries that are likely to keep them out of action for another month, according to the New York Mets.

"They're significant hamstring strains," Zack Scott said. "If I'm putting a time frame on that, we're probably looking at late June."

The Mets currently have a Major League-high 16 players on the injured list.

If Major League Baseball asks, Yordan Alvarez would be interested in participating in this year's Home Run Derby.

The event will take place at Coors Field in July.

"It's something to this point that I haven't had the opportunity to think about," Alvarezsaid. "I haven't had a conversation about it yet, but if I get the opportunity to do something like that, it's something that would interest me." 

Alvarez, 23, is hitting .329/.363/.557 with seven home runs in 37 games.

Juan Soto has apologized to his teammates for a mental lapse in Sunday's 6-5 win over the Baltimore Orioles.

In the fourth inning, the Washington Nationals had a man on third with Soto at the plate. Soto hit a pop-up that looked to be headed foul, but landed fair. The run scored, but Soto was thrown out by a step at first. Had he been hustling, he would easily have been safe.

After the game Dave Martinez said he told Soto that not running out that popout to the catcher was "embarrassing for the whole club," then had him apologize to the team.