Shohei Ohtani felt he wasn’t at his best Tuesday night, but the ultimate result was largely in line with other pitching starts so far this season.
Ohtani allowed just two runs (one earned) and finished with nine strikeouts over six innings. He was saddled with a tough-luck loss as the Los Angeles Dodgers failed to capitalize on their opportunities throughout the night.
Ohtani has completed six innings in all five starts this season and allowed one or fewer earned run in each outing while also limiting opponents to no more than five hits and without giving up a home run. Doing so has made Ohtani the first pitcher in MLB history with such performances through his first five starts in a season since earned run became an official stat in 1913.
In each of his 5 pitching starts this year, Shohei Ohtani has:
gone at least 6.0 innings
allowed no more than 5 hits
allowed no more than 1 ER
allowed 0 home runsNo other MLB pitcher has done that in each of his first 5 starts of a season (since ER became official in 1913). pic.twitter.com/PjxS642qz3
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) April 29, 2026
The right-hander has allowed five hits in back-to-back starts, and the nine baserunners the Miami Marlins managed were a season high for him. Ohtani’s nine strikeouts were the second-most he’s had in a start this year.
By allowing just the one earned run, Ohtani kept his season ERA at a minuscule 0.60. That’s the fifth-lowest mark by a Dodgers pitcher through his first five starts in a season since earned run became an official stat in the National League in 1912.
Ahead of Ohtani are Fernando Valenzuela (0.20 ERA in 1981, 0.21 ERA in 1985), Don Sutton (0.42 ERA in 1972) and Jesse Petty (0.57 ERA in 1926).
Shohei Ohtani critical of start
Ohtani appeared visibly frustrated at multiple points in his start and did manage to channel that into working out of jams. One particular instance saw him strand the bases loaded.
“Pitch count was under control for the first four innings. Stuff-wise, wasn’t that great,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. “I wasn’t quite happy with how the runs scored too. So overall, it wasn’t that great of an outing.
“From the bullpen I didn’t exactly feel like my stuff was in line with where I want it to be. I feel great physically, but I think it’s something to do with my mechanics.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts also expressed a belief that Ohtani’s mechanics were behind the uncharacteristic outing. The performance came despite the team trying to manage his workload by not having Ohtani in the lineup.
He’s now only pitched in two of five starts so far this season.
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