The way Shohei Ohtani pitched Wednesday against the Giants, his team didn’t need his bat.
The Dodgers’ 4-0 win over the Giants featured an early offensive push and back-to-back home runs, as Ohtani made his impact on the mound, holding San Francisco scoreless through seven innings.
“We’ve all seen that transformation: he wants to be the best pitcher in baseball,” manager Dave Roberts said after the game. “And right now, he’s doing it. And so you can tell he’s hyper-focused on the preparation part of it, and then obviously the days that he starts, the execution.”
It was the first of two consecutive days that the Dodgers planned to be without his presence at the top of the batting order, while simultaneously managing his workload and slow offensive start to the year.
Dodgers starting pitcher Shohei Ohtani follows through on a throw against the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
“First and foremost, the fact that I’m not injured, that’s a good thing,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. “I do want to contribute more offensively. I haven’t done so this year. So I’m looking forward to doing that.”
On Wednesday, the Dodgers’ first big offensive contributer was third baseman Santiago Espinal, who was in the starting lineup for the first time in five days. His solo homer in the third inning was his first home run since August 2024. Then Mookie Betts, hitting leadoff in place of Ohtani, followed with a homer of his own.
It was just the second time this season that the Dodgers have hit back-to-back home runs.
Two days without Shohei Ohtani’s bat in the starting lineup is a tough pill to swallow. But the Dodgers beat the Giants 4-0 Wednesday even without his presence at the top of the batting order.
The Dodgers’ victory featured an early offensive push and back-to-back home runs, as Ohtani made his impact on the mound, holding the Giants scoreless through seven innings.
Third baseman Santiago Espinal, in the starting lineup for the first time in five days, produced the Dodgers’ first run, lifting a solo homer over the left-field wall. Then Mookie Betts, hitting leadoff in place of Ohtani, followed with a homer of his own.
It was just the second time this season that the Dodgers have hit back-to-back home runs.
The team originally planned to give Betts the day off Wednesday, easing him back into action in his first week back from the injured list (strained right oblique).
Ohtani’s absence in the batting order was one factor Roberts weighed when he decided to instead play Betts for a third straight game and push his rest day to Thursday. More important, Roberts said Betts told him that he felt really good physically.
“I’m not going to just sit him down just because that’s a plan where it doesn’t make sense,” Roberts said, “where I think that going three in a row is not really pushing him considering how he feels.”
The Dodgers extended their lead in the fourth inning. Kyle Tucker hit his second double of the game, and Teoscar Hernández drove him in with a line-drive single to right field. Hernández later scored on Alex Call’s sacrifice fly in foul territory — a play Giants right fielder Jung Hoo Lee could have avoided by letting the ball drop.
Ohtani was the stopper on the mound that the Dodgers needed him to be after a four-game losing streak. He recorded eight strikeouts and all four hits that he allowed were singles.
“The feeling’s pretty good,” Ohtani said. “I feel really good with my pitches. But today, the deep fly ball and the last out of the seventh inning — that could have really swayed my ERA. So I think there’s some luck involved, as well.”
Two of them came with one out in the seventh. But he got out of the inning with a double play on a long fly ball.
Dodgers center fielder Andy Pages tracked Drew Gilbert’s flyout to the warning track, as the Giants’ base runners failed to hold in case the ball was caught. Taking advantage of the base-running mistake, Pages started a relay to second base to end the inning and put the final touches on Ohtani’s start.
“When he’s pitching, everybody expects a Cy Young; When he’s hitting, everybody expects an MVP,” Espinal said. “That’s what he showed tonight. It’s just Cy-Young caliber.”
Ohtani’s season ERA improved to .082, leading all pitchers who have thrown at least 25 major-league innings this season.
Thursday will be a full recovery day for Ohtani, barring a pinch-hit opportunity.
“We feel good about it,” Roberts said. “Because we’re doing it for him to give him the best chance to be the best player he can be. But yeah, it doesn’t feel good not writing him in the lineup tomorrow. But that’s just the way it is. And we’ve wrapped our heads around that and feel fine about it.”
Roberts was adamant Tuesday night that he didn’t think giving Ohtani Wednesday and Thursday off from hitting would cool his momentum at the plate.
Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts leaps while running the bases after hitting a solo home run against the Giants at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
“I thought [Tuesday] was a really good night,” Roberts said after Ohtani went two-for-four with a home run and a walk. “And so now to go out there, focus on pitching [Wednesday], get that recovery on Thursday, I think that he can hopefully take that momentum from tonight and then be building on that through Anaheim and San Diego.”
It was his first home run in over two weeks and second multihit game in six games, as he showed potential signs of an offensive turnaround. But Roberts said he wasn’t tempted to have Ohtani hit Wednesday.
“You just can’t be reactive over one game,” Roberts said. “You really can’t. … I’ve talked about the workload, and I’ve talked to him at length about it. It’s tough on days he pitches. I don’t think it’s fair to the player just to assume, he threw out a couple knocks so he should be in there tomorrow. I don’t like playing that game.”
Roberts had also talked with Ohtani before Tuesday’s game about giving him the next two off from hitting, and he didn’t want to pull a “bait and switch.”
“I’m good with it,” Ohtani said. “My last at-bat as a hitter yesterday was really good, so I want to continue that momentum whenever I get to hit again.”
He said he plans to spend Thursday drilling in the mechanics that he found in the batter’s box Tuesday.
It’s Ohtani’s first time navigating a two-way workload for an entire season since 2023 with the Angels.
“I do feel young,” he said when asked if it’s harder to do now that he’s three years older. “I feel good. At my peak.”
