Ohtani’s Challenging Performance Against Blue Jays
TORONTO — It begs the question: if this is where he’s at now, what more can we expect?
Shohei Ohtani had a rough outing on Wednesday. During the first three innings, he threw 60 pitches, with just 34 hitting the strike zone. The Blue Jays, in those innings, consistently found themselves with runners in scoring position.
Ohtani’s performance stood out somehow, even amidst the Dodgers’ 4-3 loss to the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.
Despite struggling to locate his pitches, he managed to complete six innings.
He struck out only two batters but held the defending American League champions to just one run, with no earned runs recorded against him.
“It was tough,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “You could see he was out of sync with his pitches and fighting himself. Yet, he still got through the sixth inning with just one run allowed.”
Roberts noted, “Honestly, it was quite impressive given how he felt.”
If that sounds familiar, it might be because Roberts described Clayton Kershaw in a similar manner on days when the legendary pitcher wasn’t at his best.
When this similarity was pointed out to him, Roberts acknowledged it with a nod.
Regardless of a pitcher’s skill, they won’t always have everything going their way. What often sets the exceptional ones apart is their ability to manage tough situations, just like Ohtani did.
They keep innings in check.
They make necessary adjustments.
In essence, they exhibit the qualities that Kershaw displayed and that Ohtani just demonstrated.
“I felt really nervous about pitching,” Ohtani admitted in Japanese.
He revealed he felt uneasy while playing catch the day prior, which led him to spend some time in the bullpen later with a silver Sharpie. He marked his shoes to track his foot placement.
“Relying just on intuition can cause misalignments,” he expressed.
He amusingly added he had a marker in his mouth to keep it from getting dirty after borrowing it from the clubhouse staff.
Despite his efforts in the first three innings of the game, which began at 3:08 p.m. local time, his comfort level didn’t improve the next day. In the third inning, he walked Dalton Varcho, who later scored on Jesus Sánchez’s double after reaching second on a passed ball, leading to an unearned run.
“It was the end of a road trip and nearing a day game,” Ohtani observed. “Maybe everyone was just tired. I don’t know if that contributed, but I was anxious about pitching.”
He effectively pitched through the fourth and fifth innings without allowing any runs. The sixth inning began with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hitting a double. However, Ohtani managed to force Sánchez to ground out, resulting in Guerrero being tagged out at third.
Ohtani completed the inning and left the mound with the Dodgers leading 3-1, maintaining a 0.00 ERA due to no earned runs.
Offensively, he didn’t get any hits but did reach base twice—once from a walk in the first inning and once after being hit by a pitch in the fifth. In 12 games, he’s walked 10 times and gotten hit twice, achieving an on-base percentage of .407.
He mentioned that he doesn’t mind being pitched around, saying, “I like walks. I’m going to take as many as I can get. When I see a strike, I just brush it off. I see it as part of the job.”
Previously, he hit three home runs in a 5-1 victory against the Nationals, although he admitted not feeling particularly in sync at the plate that day.
“I think my season usually starts like this,” Ohtani noted. “It tends to gradually improve. It’s unusual for things to shift suddenly. If I keep progressing little by little, I believe I’ll be in a solid place by May.”
So, Ohtani will likely continue to find his rhythm, and the Dodgers seem poised to give him the time he needs to settle in.
Kershaw was able to carry his team even without feeling his best. Ohtani, it seems, is capable of the same.
