LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shohei Ohtani struck out nine in six effective innings Tuesday night and did not bat for the Los Angeles Dodgers, his second start on the mound this season without hitting.
The 31-year-old two-way superstar gave up two runs, one earned, and five hits while walking three against the Miami Marlins. He threw 104 pitches — his most for the Dodgers — with 67 for strikes before leaving trailing 2-0. The Dodgers lost 2-1.
"Stuff-wise, it wasn't that great," Ohtani said through a translator. "I wasn't happy with how the runs scored, too. So overall, it wasn't that great of an outing."
It was the second time in three weeks Ohtani only pitched and wasn't in the batting order as the designated hitter.
"It's almost like a half-day for him," manager Dave Roberts said before the game. "I think that in itself is a win for his mind and body."
Dalton Rushing replaced Ohtani as both the DH and leadoff hitter. Rushing was 0 for 4 with a run scored and a strikeout.
Roberts said the lineup's performance when Ohtani isn't the DH won’t figure into decisions on when to use him solely as a pitcher.
"Even without him in the lineup, we should have won the game," Roberts said.
The Dodgers are trying to carefully manage Ohtani's workload in his first full season with them as a two-way player on a team that is attempting to win a third straight World Series championship.
"Obviously having him do both duties, theory, practice, it's great," Roberts said beforehand. "But how sustainable is it without kind of taking a little bit off his plate? That's the question and it's not exact science."
It's too early for Ohtani to tell whether sometimes being a one-way player will preserve him for a potential run deep into the postseason.
"We're only going to find out in the totality if it's a plus or a minus," he said. "I think for players who want to do two-way and want to DH, they should get the option to do DH. But at the same time, it's hard to tell now. We'll see how it goes at the end of the season."
Ohtani said he will respect any decisions that are made about when he pitches and hits or just hits.
"I also understand the importance of getting to the end of the season with everybody healthy," he said. "So talking with the training staff, talking with the team, I think it's really important that the team makes the decision on what's good for the team."
Struggling with his command at times, Ohtani gave up his second earned run in 30 innings over five starts this season, bumping his ERA from 0.38 to 0.60.
"I don't think he felt completely in sync," Roberts said. "There was a lot of misfires and bad misses. It was probably with him a delivery situation. But for him to find a way to still navigate six innings and then give up two runs, we should win the game."
Ohtani was pitching on five days' rest for the first time this year instead of his usual six or more.
"From the bullpen (onward), I didn't exactly feel like my stuff was in line with where I wanted to be," Ohtani said. "I feel great physically. I think it's something to do with my mechanics."
Ohtani joined Fernando Valenzuela in 1981 and himself last season as the only Dodgers pitchers to allow just one run over their first five starts of a season. In 2025, Ohtani did so while tossing only 9 1/3 innings.
Ohtani will return to hitting Wednesday afternoon in the series finale.
The four-time MVP is batting .278 with six home runs, 13 RBIs and 32 strikeouts in 108 at-bats. He has an .898 OPS.
"I do feel like over the course of my career it's just a reality that I'm not exactly hitting at the best of my ability at this time of year," Ohtani said. "At the same time as a player, I do want to be better and get to that position where I'm feeling really good. It's a balancing act of the two."
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
