CINCINNATI — Shohei Ohtani departed his begin on the mound in the course of a plate look because of cramps, per the Dodgers. The staff didn’t specify the place Ohtani was cramping up, however the SportsNet LA broadcast reported that he was stretching out his decrease physique after exiting as a pitcher.
Ohtani threw six straight balls, together with two wild pitches, earlier than departing with a Dodgers coach. Aside from his deteriorating command, there was nothing visibly mistaken with Ohtani, who remained within the recreation because the designated hitter.
Ohtani threw 51 pitches (32 strikes) whereas pitching into the fourth inning for the primary time as a Dodger. He gave up a leadoff single to Noelvi Marte, walked Tyler Stephenson on 4 pitches (together with two yanked fastballs that allowed Marte to advance to 3rd) and bought to 2-0 on Spencer Steer earlier than supervisor Dave Roberts got here out to examine on him.
Anthony Banda relieved Ohtani and allowed one of many inherited runners to attain on a sacrifice fly. Ohtani struck out 4 towards two walks and allowed a pair of runs on 5 hits, additionally having given up an RBI single to Elly De La Cruz within the first inning.
Ohtani has made seven begins on the mound for the Dodgers this season after spending a lot of the previous two years rehabbing from a September 2023 process to restore the ulnar collateral ligament in his proper elbow. He didn’t go on a Minor League rehab project earlier than returning to the mound and is basically nonetheless rehabbing on the large league degree.
Ohtani was scheduled to pitch 4 innings for the primary time on Wednesday, in addition to in his subsequent begin as a pitcher. He holds a 2.40 ERA throughout 15 innings pitched this season.
