For any Dodgers fans who might have doubted if Shohei Ohtani could be competitive on the mound again, those fears were put to rest on Wednesday, Aug. 27. Ohtani struck out nine Cincinnati Reds in five innings of work as the Dodgers secured a 5-1 victory.
Ohtani got his first Dodgers victory while using many of his pitches effectively. He threw 23 curveballs, 16 sweepers, and 15 four-seam fastballs in his outing. Watching Ohtani be able to pitch effectively gives Los Angeles a lot of hope in this important stretch of their season.
"We'd had a plan of kind of living away from the fastball as much as we had in the past couple starts," Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing said after the game, MLB.com reported. "That doesn't mean we weren't going to throw it tonight, but we were very offspeed-heavy early on. That just opened up doors later with the fastball for the last two innings."
While he called an excellent game behind the plate, Rushing added a two-run single in a four-run fourth inning for Los Angeles.
Speaking of pitching, the Dodgers staff racked up 19 strikeouts against the Reds.
"That's a big number," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "Speaks to what our guys can do with the talent that we have, the swing-and-miss. Really good performance."
Ohtani really had his four-seamer working for him. He touched 100 mph four times against Cincinnati. Ohtani maxed that pitch out at 100.3, leaving Reds hitters flailing away.
Dodgers fans can expect Ohtani to be limited to just five innings of work as he's still working his way back from his second elbow surgery.
"The fact that I was able to reach five innings was really key in terms of moving forward," Ohtani said through his interpreter, Will Ireton. "Moving forward, it’s going to be a collaboration between the doctors, the front office and Dave Roberts in terms of how we want to proceed with if we’re going to throw more than five."
That's a lot of good news for Dodgers fans. They also got more good news as the San Diego Padres lost to the Seattle Mariners earlier on Wednesday, putting the Dodgers up by two games in the National League West Division race.