Shohei Ohtani has reached the set benchmark in all six of his starts as a pitcher this season, and now looks to continue with that progression when the Los Angeles Dodgers play the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday.
Having made two starts each of one, two and three innings, the Dodgers hope to have Ohtani tack on another frame. It’s a goal the right-hander acknowledged wanting to reach after laboring some against the Minnesota Twins.
“I want to get to that four-inning mark,” Ohtani said last week. “Overall, a lot of pitches, so it was good I was able to get to that point in terms of pitch count.”
Ohtani’s 46 pitches over three innings last week marked the most he’s thrown in a start so far this season. Whether related or not, he’s now going eight days between outings.
It’s the second-longest break between starts for Ohtani as a Dodgers pitcher, topped only by the nine days brought about because of the All-Star break.
Prior to that point, Ohtani made two starts on five days of rest, then back-to-back outings six days apart.
“I do think there’s an endurance part of it, I also think there’s a conservation of energy while he is pitching,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Ohtani resuming two-way duties this season.
“And that just speaks to his pitch days, where the focus is more on pitching, and rightfully so. As far as how he feels after, speaking to the question about the day after, that’s probably a buildup thing. I think he’s pretty good at calibrating on what he needs to do, and I’m sure he’ll do that.”
With Ohtani now expected to go four inning, the Dodgers no longer are pairing him with a bulk pitcher moving forward. Had they still wished to do so this week, Emmet Sheehan last started on Friday, which would leave him on traditional rest to pitch in the series finale at Great American Ball Park.
Shohei Ohtani’s hitting when pitching
While Ohtani generally has been sharper than expected in his return to pitching, it at times has come with apparent struggles at the plate.
The Dodgers kept Ohtani in the leadoff spot of their lineup on his start days until recently, when Mookie Betts was moved up in the order as an attempt to help him break out of a season-long slump. Ohtani’s hitting in the game after pitching has at times fallen short of expectations as well.
“I just think that it’s too early for me to determine the day of, the day after. I think he’s made six outings, something like that, and two of them were one inning. So it’s like, I don’t think that’s a toll on him the day after,” Roberts said.
“So I’m not letting that noise get to me, but I do think that for him to do that is certainly a positive. But yeah, we’ll keep tracking it, though.”
Ohtani just tied a Dodgers franchise record with five consecutive games of hitting a home run. The streak was snapped Friday but he bounced back with a leadoff homer the next night.
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