PHOENIX – Shohei Ohtani caused the Los Angeles Dodgers to hold their breath Tuesday night. What else can you do when you see a 105.8 mph line drive screaming off of your $700 million unicorn? That’s certainly all Dave Roberts could do as he saw Ohtani bounce off the mound to try to corral the loose ball that Alek Thomas scorched off his left palm and onto the Chase Field turf.
The Dodgers will go as far as Ohtani will take them this October, which has fueled much of the caution surrounding his return from a second major elbow surgery. Now, his performances — and the Dodgers’ circumstances – just make them want to peel off the kid gloves.
There is an even greater argument for the Dodgers to let Ohtani keep pitching while they holding their breath: the state of their bullpen, which squandered yet another late lead in a 5-4 collapse to keep the Arizona Diamondbacks’ faint postseason hopes alive.
“It’s hard to absorb these games,” Roberts said of the 11th time the Dodgers have been walked off this season, having lost leads in the ninth inning or later in six of those instances.
They have five regular-season games left to find a solution.
“We’ve had almost six months to make decisions and see where things go,” Roberts said. “So there’s certainly time, and we’re gonna need certain guys.”
Ohtani was fine after the comebacker, which was the first hit he had surrendered as a pitcher in 18 days. To show it, he struck out the next three batters he faced in the third inning, including a pair of putaway fastballs that sat around triple digits.
An inning later, after Ketel Marte led off with a single, Ohtani ceded control over calling pitches to catcher Ben Rortvedt. When he got to the seventh pitch in a two-strike battle with Corbin Carroll, Ohtani shook. Then he shook again. Finally, he froze Carroll on a fastball that registered at 101.2 mph.
Ohtani pumped his fist coming off the mound to end the fifth, after James McCann tapped a ball in front of Ohtani that he got to to start an inning-ending double play. Then he did something he hasn’t done in a Dodgers uniform: threw a pitch in the sixth inning.
He threw a scoreless, leaving with the Dodgers leading 4-0. What happened next was a disaster. The Dodgers uncharacteristically splurged on their bullpen this winter and have seen it backfire catastrophically. The bullpen gave up three runs in the seventh and, in the ninth, the biggest of the off-season additions, Tanner Scott, gave up two runs for his major league-worst 10th blown save of the season.
“We should have won the game,” Scott said, with his ERA now up to 4.91. “It’s my fault.”
This is why the Dodgers need their starters, and Ohtani, to carry them. He will start this October, appearing in the postseason for the first time as a pitcher. Game 1 of the National League Wild Card series is a week from Tuesday. While Roberts didn’t commit to Ohtani starting that game, chances are “very high” Ohtani will start at least one game that series. Which makes every inning the Dodgers can get out of him – and not have to entrust to their shaky bullpen – all the more important.
“Any extra inning you can get with your most talented pitchers is a benefit,” Roberts said.
So, Roberts left Ohtani in to keep going Tuesday. His pitch count was at 72 as he took the mound in the sixth inning for the first time since Aug. 9, 2023, when he was with the Angels. Roberts remained in the dugout even as Arizona put multiple baserunners on against Ohtani for the first time all night. The right-hander’s 90th pitch of the game registered at 99.8 mph. His next one got him through a scoreless sixth.
His six scoreless innings required just 91 pitches, 16 of which induced a swing and miss.
“Today was a really important mark for me,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton.
This, a week after Ohtani fired five no-hit innings on a tidy 68 pitches against the fearsome Philadelphia Phillies and wasn’t allowed to keep going. The Dodgers bullpen blew that one, too. Roberts was adamant then that the Dodgers were going to adhere to the process laid out by Ohtani, his representatives, Dr. Neal ElAttrache and the organization themselves: they weren’t going to push beyond five innings without checking in out it first. That start represented a data point. Ohtani felt good to keep going then, so before Tuesday’s start, the Dodgers loosened their restrictions. Ohtani spoke with Roberts on Monday’s off-day. If he was efficient and pitching well through five innings, the sixth would at least be a consideration.
“He’s built a really good foundation of five innings a bunch of times and pitch count,” general manager Brandon Gomes said. “We felt like if the opportunity presents itself then it would be good to get him into the sixth heading into the postseason.”
Especially if Ohtani is going to look as electric as he has. Through 47 innings this season, his ERA is 2.87. His stuff coming off of surgery has impressed and exceeded even the rosiest of expectations. He struck out eight on Tuesday without walking a single batter, surrendering five hits with just two being hit 95 mph or harder.
“Shohei was fantastic,” Roberts said. “He was fantastic tonight.”
Every inning he pitches matters. Especially with a bullpen that continues to sow doubt. The Diamondbacks struck for three runs as soon as Ohtani left the mound, opening their scoring with a McCann double off of Jack Dreyer and bringing their deficit within one when Adrian Del Castillo walloped a cutter from Edgardo Henriquez into the seats.
Alex Vesia and Scott each dealt with traffic over the final two innings, only further escalating heart rates and compounding the consternation over this bullpen. Scott hit Ildemaro Vargas with a two-strike slider to lead off the inning, then walked Tim Tawa on four pitches despite the outfielder squaring around to bunt each time. Defensive replacement Jorge Barrosa hit a sacrifice fly two batters later to tie the game up.
Geraldo Perdomo, seemingly sitting on a slider, then struck the final blow, lining a single to left off Scott to walk the Dodgers off and seal the latest disaster.
“He went way too heavy on the slider,” Roberts said of Scott, who threw 18 sliders to just three fastballs. “Really didn’t provide a threat for a fastball that I feel plays now. It speaks to the predictability.”
It also speaks to a problem that has simmered for five and a half months and has only gotten worse in the season’s final month. Entering Tuesday, the Dodgers’ 5.23 bullpen ERA in September ranked 25th. Their 5.37 walks per nine innings ranked only ahead of the Washington Nationals. Only three teams have thrown fewer pitches in the strike zone (40.7 percent).
“These are our guys. I do know that,” Roberts said.
He added, “Getting behind, walking guys, hit batsmen, that’s just a sign of, you’re either scared or you’re pitching too careful. That’s just the facts. You’re not having the conviction in executing pitches for fear of failure or getting hit. At this time of season you’ve got to put everything out there and trust that it’s going to be good.”
The culprits have been familiar and new all at once. Scott and veteran Blake Treinen have floundered. Fellow free-agent addition Kirby Yates has pitched his way out of important spots. Dreyer has already thrown 74 innings this year, more than in any of his previous professional or college seasons. Henriquez has pitched his way into chances like Tuesday.
Roberts has pushed so many buttons that another presented itself on Tuesday, when Clayton Kershaw volunteered to make himself available in relief. He will be available on Wednesday as well, the date of his usual between-starts bullpen, before his Sunday start in Seattle. Roki Sasaki, as unpredictable as he’ll is, will also join this bullpen on Wednesday.
The Dodgers are having to get creative. Because they’re already asking their starters, like Ohtani, to do more.
“Our starters can’t go nine every night,” Roberts said. “We’re looking for some guys to step up … Guys have got to do their job. You have to do your job. I can’t put it any more nice.”
(Photo: Chris Coduto / Getty Images)