Shohei Ohtani made the 100th pitching start of his career on Tuesday night in what was only his second time ever pitching at Chase Field as the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks began a key series for both teams.
Ohtani additionally entered the game in pursuit of his 40th win as a pitcher. The right-hander had gone 1-1 with a 3.29 ERA and 1.07 WHIP across his first 13 starts for the Dodgers this season.
He was coming off five no-hit innings against the Philadelphia Phillies and starting on a Tuesday for the second week in a row. That seemingly has Ohtani lined up to start in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series on Sept. 30, though the Dodgers have not publicly committed to as much.
What manager Dave Roberts did reveal prior to first pitch in the series opener was that Ohtani would potentially pitch into, if not complete, the sixth inning. That marked a reversal from the Dodgers previously indicating stretching Ohtani out to that point wouldn’t come until the postseason.
“I think it’s just more of, I mentioned it after his last start, for him to see it, for us to see it, to give us a little more options in the postseason and reach a marker we haven’t reached up to this point,” Roberts explained.
“And just feeling like we’ve got a really, really solid base. For me, the conversations, and I just don’t like the bait and switch. I feel really good with the conversation I had with Shohei about how today could potentially play out.”
Shohei Ohtani’s start vs. D-Backs
Ohtani began his night in efficient fashion, retiring the side in order in the first inning on just 11 pitches. He ended the inning by freezing Corbin Carroll on a curveball. Carroll also saw Ohtani’s fastest pitch of the inning, a 99.5 mph four-seam fastball.
After a solo home run from Teoscar Hernández provided the Dodgers with a lead, Ohtani came right back in the second inning and struck out two of three batters faced.
The Diamondbacks’ first hit came on an Alek Thomas line drive with a 105.8 mph exit velocity that hit off Ohtani’s glove for an infield single to lead off the bottom of the third inning. It was the first hit Ohtani allowed since Ryan Mountcasle’s leadoff double in the fourth inning on Sept. 5.
He responded by striking out the next three batters and was at 43 pitches through three scoreless innings. Ohtani continued to mow batters down in the fourth, again after the Diamondbacks had a leadoff single.
Over the third and fourth innings, Ohtani held D-Backs hitters to 0-for-6 with five strikeouts following leadoff singles in each frame.
Thomas collected a second base hit of the game in the fifth, but Ohtani followed that by inducing a 1-4-3 inning-ending double play. Ohtani then stranded two baserunners in the sixth inning to keep the Diamondbacks scoreless.
He finished with eight strikeouts and threw 91 pitches.
Ohtani hadn’t pitched in the sixth inning since Aug. 9, 2023.
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