Shohei Ohtani accomplishes ultra-rare feat in return to Angel Stadium mound, but night ends poorly for Dodgers

Los Angeles Dodgers two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani on Wednesday night faced his former team, the Los Angeles Angels, for the first time as a pitcher in what turned out to be a potentially crucial losing effort for the visitors. 

The eventual 6-5 Dodgers loss also marked the first time that Ohtani pitched in Angel Stadium since he faced the Reds as a member of the Angels on Aug. 23, 2023. During that start he exited in the second inning with an elbow injury that would eventually require Tommy John surgery. Because of his recovery from that procedure, Ohtani was unable to pitch in 2024, his first season with the Dodgers. Last season, he did return to Angel Stadium as a visiting player for the first time, but he did so as the Dodgers’ DH and did not pitch. 

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said before the game that Ohtani would be limited to five innings. However, a rising pitch count in tandem with an Angels fourth-inning rally didn’t allow Ohtani to reach that innings limit in this, his comeback season as a pitcher. 

After his leadoff triple in the top of the first and staked to a 3-0 lead before his first pitch, Ohtani set about producing the following line on the mound: 

Of Ohtani’s season-high 80 pitches, 50 went for strikes. He earned 14 swings and misses on the night but permitted six hard-hit balls. 

In the bottom of the first inning, he struck out Zach Neto to get things started. As Sarah Langs notes, that made Ohtani the first starting pitcher since at least 1900 to hit a leadoff triple and then strike out the first batter he faced in that same game. 

With two out in that same bottom of the first, Ohtani faced his former Angels teammate and fellow three-time MVP Mike Trout for the first time since the championship game of the 2023 World Baseball Classic. In that encounter, Ohtani got Trout to whiff on a sweeper to seal the WBC title for Japan. On Wednesday night, Ohtani started Trout off with five straight fastballs, all 98 or 99 mph. Then he froze him for strike three with a full-count sweeper: 

The second inning was less kind to Ohtani. He permitted a homer and a double, along with two more well struck balls, and allowed a pair of runs in the frame. 

In the fourth inning, Ohtani faced Trout for a second time, and this time he froze him with a 101-mph fastball on the black: 

The fifth inning saw Ohtani’s pitch count vault and also saw him struggle to locate, even as his velocity remained at peak levels. With one out and the Dodgers up 5-2, Neto came to the plate as the potential tying run. He ended Ohtani’s night on the mound: 

From there, the Dodger bullpen did its job in holding the one-run advantage until the eighth, when the Angels pushed across a pair of runs on a Logan O’Hoppe line-drive single to take the lead for good: 

Kenley Jansen worked the ninth for his 470th career save, and the Angels have now won seven straight games against their interleague rivals from Los Angeles. 

Earlier in the day, the reigning-champion Dodgers fell out of first place in the National League West for the first time since April 28. That was thanks to the Padres’ 11-1 win over the Giants. Their latest loss to the Angels means that the Dodgers now trail the Padres by a full game in the standings. As recently as July 3, the Dodgers held a nine-game lead in the division. 

After making the leap from Japan as a 23-year-old in 2018, Ohtani signed with the Angels as an international free agent and spent the first six seasons of his MLB career in Anaheim. Over that span, he won a pair of MVPs and broke record upon record thanks to his unexampled excellence as both a hitter and pitcher. Ohtani reached free agency after the 2023 season and soon after signed a record $700 million contract with the Dodgers.