Shohei Ohtani had his best start in two months Wednesday night against the Dodgers. The Japanese superstar went seven sharp innings and struck out 12 while allowing one run on five hits, including a solo shot to Freddie Freeman.
Ohtani has been in a slump on the mound since recording a 0.64 ERA in his first five starts of the season, but he may be slowly finding his groove again. The 2021 AL MVP has now posted back-to-back solid outings against two strong offenses in the Rangers and the Dodgers.
“If I can keep this up it’s obviously good, but doing it again is the difficult part,” Ohtani said. “I want to maintain the feel that I have right now for the next outing.”
On the season, Ohtani has a 3.13 ERA with a 32.3 K% and 10.3 BB% and is holding hitters to a .179 batting average in 89 innings pitched.
Although he walked two batters, Ohtani’s sharp command particularly stood out Wednesday night, as he threw 77 of his 101 pitches for strikes and was consistently working ahead in counts. Unlike the last outing against the Rangers where he struggled to put hitters away and got just five whiffs, Ohtani recorded 20 whiffs against the Dodgers.
Ohtani cruised through the first three frames, fanning six and allowing just one hit on a weak grounder to first. His only mistake came in the fourth inning when Freeman turned on a hanging 85 mph cutter.
“I wanted to throw it a little lower,” Ohtani said. “I was trying to get a swing and miss on a ball but I left it up, and you can’t do that against a good hitter. That was a mistake on my part.”
Ohtani barely faced trouble on the rest of the outing, never allowing a runner to reach third base despite giving up a few hits and walks.
It was a four-seam and cutter-heavy gameplan for Ohtani, who threw the two pitches 79% of the time (50% four-seam, 29% cutter).
The Dodgers are one of the heavily rumored suitors for Ohtani this offseason, and he was asked about his thoughts on the team after the game.
“I’m grateful to all the teams that made the effort to sign me when I decided to come here,” Ohtani said. “But it doesn’t matter who I’m playing, and I’m focused on the season.”
Ohtani’s next projected start is at home against the White Sox on Wednesday, June 28 at 9:38 PM ET/6:38PM PT.
