The Los Angeles Dodgers provided Shohei Ohtani with extra rest since his last start as a pitcher, deciding to hold him back until this week rather than facing the San Francisco Giants.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts explained the decision stemmed from changing Ohtani’s schedule on late notice to have him pitch against the Baltimore Orioles because Tyler Glasnow was experiencing back tightness. That came after the Dodgers had planned to not have Ohtani pitch until a few days later due to feeling under the weather.
Ohtani’s start on Tuesday came on 10 days of rest, and it represented his first time facing the Philadelphia Phillies. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts considered the outing against the Phillies an opportunity to prepare for October.
“Today is a good test. It’s a very well-prepared offense. A lot of those guys are veteran hitters, they’re gathering information, potentially, for a rematch,” Roberts said. “There’s a lot of left-handed hitters in the lineup. It’s a good test.”
The Phillies clinched the National League East on Monday and figure to remain ahead of the Dodgers in the standings to earn a first-round bye in the postseason.
Shohei Ohtani’s start vs. Phillies
After a shorter start against the Orioles because of the circumstances, Ohtani was expected to complete five innings on Tuesday night.
He wound up accomplishing that on an efficient 68 pitches while averaging nearly 100 mph on his fastball.
Ohtani dialed up his velocity early, starting Kyle Schwarber’s first at-bat with a 101.7 mph four-seam fastball. Ohtani wound up striking out Schwarber looking on a slider up in the zone. He walked Bryce Harper but ended a scoreless first inning on the next pitch.
After home runs by Alex Call and Kiké Hernández put the Dodgers ahead 3-0, Ohtani narrowly avoided trouble in the third inning as two fly balls went to the warning track.
Ohtani retired the side in order again in the fourth and fifth innings. Schwarber and Harper went a combined 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and one walk. Harper represented the Phillies’ only baserunner against Ohtani in his five no-hit innings, as he retired the final 13 batters faced.
Ohtani received some help from Call making a running catch while colliding with the wall in left-center field for the second out of the fifth inning.
Next for Ohtani one more start during the regular season, but the Dodgers have not yet said when that will be.
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