Shohei Ohtani struck out eight batters and worked seven scoreless innings as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Francisco Giants 4-0, snapping a four-game losing streak, the report says. Ohtani leaned on his fastball and sweeper in the outing, which came on a night he did not hit.
The report says Ohtani’s return to a full-time two-way role has produced improved pitching, a pronounced offensive slump and more days off than he has typically taken. He is attempting a full-season two-way role for the first time in four years and is less than two months from his 32nd birthday. “I feel young. I feel good. At my peak,” Ohtani said, per the report.
Per the report, the start marked the third time in four turns through the rotation that Ohtani was absent from the lineup for a game he started on the mound, and he will also sit for Thursday’s series finale as a reaction to a prolonged hitting slump. The report says he had three singles and a double in 36 at-bats in his first 10 games this month, with half of his batted balls being grounders. Tuesday’s game featured a walk, a single, a hard-hit out and an opposite-field home run that ended a 13-game homerless drought. “First and foremost, the fact that I’m not injured, that’s a good thing,” Ohtani said, adding he wants to contribute more offensively, the report says.
The report says Ohtani’s ERA is now 0.82, the sixth lowest through a pitcher’s first seven starts since the wild-card era began in 1994. The piece notes he easily paces the sport in ERA, with the second-lowest marks in the majors and National League listed as Cam Schlittler (1.35) and Bryce Elder (1.81), respectively. He also ranks third in WHIP (0.82) and 11th in strikeout percentage (29.2), though 63 National League pitchers have thrown more innings, a function of the Dodgers’ six-man rotation. “He wants to be the best pitcher in baseball,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, per the report.
The report adds that Ohtani’s 0.82 ERA is the second lowest by a Dodgers pitcher through seven starts behind Fernando Valenzuela’s 0.29 mark in 1981, and that Jacob DeGrom’s 0.80 in 2021 was the last lower mark at this point in a season. Ohtani acknowledged a degree of luck on Wednesday, pointing to a deep fly and a doubled-off baserunner that could have affected his ERA. The report says he had reached seven innings in each of his past two starts after not exceeding six innings last season, and that earlier efficiency included a 21-outs outing on 89 pitches in Houston; this week he entered the seventh with 90 pitches, and Roberts tied that workload to Ohtani not being in the lineup.
