After completing a sweep of the Colorado Rockies to extend their winning streak to 10 games in head-to-head meetings, the Los Angeles Dodgers now continue their road trip with a weekend series against the Kansas City Royals.
Dustin May is starting the first game at Kauffman Stadium, and Shohei Ohtani is scheduled to pitch on Saturday. The start is going to be Ohtani’s third of the season but first on the road.
Ohtani made his 2025 pitching debut against the San Diego Padres on June 16, and started again six days later in the finale of the Dodgers’ series with the Washington Nationals.
The right-hander completed one inning in both outings. Ohtani threw 28 pitches against the Padres, and was much more efficient his next time out as he pared that down to 18 pitches.
There had been some suggestion Ohtani would stretch into the second inning of his start against the Nationals, but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts revealed after the game that internally the team planned on just the opening frame once again.
The Dodgers have been nothing short of methodical in their handling of Ohtani’s rehab process from a second right elbow surgery and pitching progression this year.
They are taking into account feedback from Ohtani and direction from Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who performed both of Ohtani’s Tommy John surgeries.
How many innings will Shohei Ohtani pitch?
The Dodgers have not specified Ohtani’s pitch count or innings target for his start against the Royals. At minimum, the expectation figures to again be one inning.
However, if Ohtani is efficient and avoids a stressful opening frame, he conceivably could be stretched into at least pitching some of the second inning. That still would represent a notable step forward as it would be the first time Ohtani pitched in parts of multiple innings this season.
He checked off that process while navigating simulated games.
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