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Following the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 6-4 loss to the Houston Astros on Saturday, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts made it clear he isn’t worried about Shohei Ohtani’s offense on days when he takes the mound.
Ohtani, who made his fourth mound start of the season, delivered his strongest performance to date with two scoreless innings and three strikeouts on 31 pitches, 21 of them strikes, while celebrating his 31st birthday.
Ohtani started his outing by allowing a leadoff single to Isaac Paredes, but quickly erased it with a double play and a groundout to Jose Altuve, finishing the first inning in just 10 pitches. In the second, he struck out Christian Walker, Victor Caratini, and Yanier Diaz, all swinging. He topped out at 100.9 mph, slightly below his previous start’s peak of 101.7 mph.
Through four appearances this season, Ohtani has now given up just one run across six innings, good for a 1.50 ERA. It’s a promising return to the mound after missing all of 2024 while recovering from Tommy John surgery. Over his five-season tenure with the Angels, he went 38-19 with a 3.01 ERA in 86 starts.
Offensively, Shohei Ohtani batted in his usual leadoff spot but grounded out in each of his first two at-bats, both coming while he was on the mound. Although his recent performances at the plate during pitching appearances have drawn some questions, Roberts downplayed the concerns, according to Dodger Blue.
“Dave Roberts said he thinks Shohei Ohtani is still taking good at-bats since he began pitching,” Dodger Blue wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “He also hasn’t seen much of a difference in Ohtani between days pitching and not because it’s such a small sample size.
“Ohtani said he thinks he’s just missing some pitches he normally hits.”
After Ohtani exited, left-hander Justin Wrobleski (4-3) came in and struggled, giving up five runs (four earned) on five hits over 4.2 innings. The Astros broke out in the third inning with a four-run rally that included a two-run double from Zack Short and RBI singles from Cam Smith and Christian Walker. Yainer Diaz added to the damage in the fourth with a solo home run, his 11th of the season.
Miguel Rojas hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth to bring the Dodgers within one, making it 5-4. However, Los Angeles couldn’t generate further offense. The Astros added an insurance run in the eighth via a Victor Caratini sacrifice fly. Despite Ohtani singling to lead off the ninth, Houston’s Josh Hader shut the door with his MLB-leading 25th save.
The Dodgers, now 56-33, lost back-to-back games for the first time since June 6–7 as they look to avoid a series sweep in the finale.
