Shohei Ohtani’s Friday night at UNIQLO Field was equal parts workhorse effort and worried glances. The Dodgers star gutted through six innings and 110 pitches on the mound, then never picked up a bat in the seventh, as the team quietly pulled him from the lineup. Los Angeles still stormed back late to grab the win, but Ohtani’s early exit kept the buzz in the stands focused on his knee and his workload as much as the final score.
On the mound, Ohtani logged six innings, allowed seven hits and three runs, all earned, walked two and struck out nine. The outing nudged his season ERA up to 1.79, and at the plate he went 0-for-3. Before the bottom of the seventh, the Dodgers removed him as a hitter and sent Miguel Rojas up as a pinch hitter instead. Those numbers and moves are listed in the official box score, according to StatMuse.
The cautious handling did not come out of nowhere. Ohtani has been playing through lingering left-knee inflammation this month, the same issue that forced him out of a June 10 appearance in Pittsburgh, led to imaging and sidelined him briefly. The Dodgers have previously labeled those exits as precautionary and said they would keep a close eye on any recurring symptoms, according to MLB.com.
Teoscar’s Seventh-Inning Grand Slam
Down 3-0 and looking flat, the Dodgers flipped the game in one swing. In the seventh inning, Teoscar Hernández jumped on the first pitch he saw from Adrian Morejón and crushed a go-ahead grand slam, turning a three-run hole into a 4-3 lead that would stand as the final score. The blast wiped away the early frustration from Ohtani’s night and rewrote the story of the game, as reflected in the postgame recap and box score, according to StatMuse.
What Fans And The Club Will Watch Next
Ohtani’s latest outing has cranked the volume back up on the never-ending workload debate for a player who is both a top-tier starter and a middle-of-the-order bat. Coverage around the league framed his removal as another reminder that the Dodgers have to juggle his innings and plate appearances more carefully than most. Reporters are already asking whether Los Angeles will tweak how it structures his starts and off-days as the summer grind continues, according to the New York Post.
Manager Dave Roberts and the Dodgers' medical staff have consistently said they will err on the side of caution with Ohtani, and the team has indicated it will keep monitoring both his knee and his overall workload between starts. For now, the Dodgers walk away from UNIQLO Field with a comeback win and a fresh reminder that their most valuable piece is not a standard, rotation-only arm. How they manage him through July and beyond will stay under the microscope, according to MLB.com.
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