Ohtani is pitching at a historic pace with a 0.82 ERA, but a prolonged hitting slump has the Dodgers managing his workload carefully.
Shohei Ohtani fired off seven scoreless innings on Wednesday to snap the Los Angeles Dodgers’ four-game losing streak with a 4-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants. Leaning heavily on his fastball and sweeper, Ohtani was able to neutralize a Giants lineup that seems to be heating up. It dropped his ERA to 0.82, which is the sixth lowest through seven starts since the wild-card era in 1994, according to ESPN.
His 0.82 ERA leads the majors handily, with the second highest coming from New York Yankees’ Cam Schlittler with a 1.35 ERA. It’s the second lowest ERA by a Dodgers pitcher through seven starts since Fernando Valenzuela pitched a 0.29 ERA in 1981. And Los Angeles is comfortable ramping up his pitching, with him completing seven innings in both of the last two starts without ever pitching more than six last season. That’s come with removing him from the lineup to give him a bit of juice to finish more innings as it comes through a hitting slump for the star.
To read more about Ohtani’s night silencing doubters, here’s the full story from Dodgers Roundtable writer Adrian Medina.
Ohtani has hit just three singles and a double through the first 10 games this month, but he found a bit of a spark on Tuesday with a walk, single, and homer to snap a 13-game drought. He’s still well below his usual numbers with just seven home runs this season. They’ll now look to sit him on Thursday in the finale to manage offensive fatigue. He’s been held out of the lineup in three of his last four pitching stars as they look to preserve his talents for a full season.