When pitcher Shohei Ohtani exited the Los Angeles Dodgers' Wednesday night game against the Cincinnati Reds after throwing six straight balls, it stopped the world for fans of the Blue and White. After looking alright at the top of his scheduled start, Ohtani looked visibly frustrated with his command, forcing skipper Dave Roberts to remove him from the game, at least as a pitcher, in order to replace him with Anthony Banda.

While Ohtani was still able to get to the plate as a designated hitter, he failed to get much done in the contest, and ultimately left fans with more questions than answers after the 2-5 loss was officially recorded.

Asked by reporters after the game if Ohtani's issues, labeled “cramps” by the team, had any impact on his recent woes at the plate, Roberts admitted he wasn't sure, noting only what he saw from his two-way unicorn.

“You know, I don't know. I think as far as today, certainly there was some cramping, some hip tightness that affected the pitching, and you can see him kind of banging his hip, trying to loosen it up. I don't know how long he's been dealing with it. I know he mentioned to me that the humidity kind of, you know, made his body respond a certain way. I don't know how much it's affected his hitting, though. With that, he's hopeful that he'll make his next start.”

Asked if Ohtani was still on pace for his next start, roughly a week in the future, Roberts said yes, noting that on Wednesday, he hopes to see Ohtani on the mound once more.

“I think so, yeah, and I think that if you're looking at Shohei, the next time we're thinking about his next Wednesday, so he'll have a week. It'll be at home, so there won't be humidity to deal with.”

Did the Cincinnati humidity really do Ohtani in against the Reds? It's hard to say, but as Roberts noted, his next start will take place at Blue Heaven on Earth, where the humidity is low but expectations from Dodgers fans are always incredibly high.

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