Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani matches Ichiro Suzuki’s on-base streak
TORONTO — Shohei Ohtani acknowledged he wasn’t feeling his best Wednesday.
In the Dodgers’ 4-3 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, it took him 22 pitches to navigate a scoreless first inning. But he escaped unscathed.
“Made some adjustments and finished strong at the end,” Ohtani said through Japanese interpreter Will Ireton, after pitching six innings and not giving up an earned run.
Regardless of the unearned run Toronto scored in the third inning, Ohtani holds the longest active streak of innings pitched (26⅔) without allowing an earned run in the majors, according to MLB.com and Elias Sports Bureau.
And by drawing a walk in his first at-bat Wednesday, Ohtani extended his on-base streak to an active-best 43 games, matching Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki for the most ever by a Japanese-born player.
“It was a grind,” manager Dave Roberts said. “You could see it. He just didn’t feel synced up with his delivery. You could see by the misses he was fighting himself the entire outing.
“But obviously the compete comes into play. The stuff comes into play. … Pretty impressive, to be honest with you, given how he felt.”
Ohtani got more efficient as he went, retiring seven straight before he gave up a lead-off double in the sixth inning to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. He got out of the inning with a pair of ground balls and a pop-up.
Asked whether it was fatigue or his delivery that was off, Ohtani said it was hard to tell.
“But I think it’s a little bit of both,” he said. “For players, we usually feel fatigue at the end of the road trip. I’m not sure if that was the main cause, but I want to make sure that I’m addressing, if any, some mechanical changes.”
The Dodgers reordered their rotation to give Ohtani seven days between his first two starts of the season. They made Justin Wrobleski the sixth starter, after he began the season in long relief. And they flipped Yamamoto and Ohtani, so Yamamoto was pitching on five days’ rest Tuesday against the Blue Jays.
Ohtani had, however, been in the lineup every day, a physical demand no other pitcher has to worry about.
He reached base twice Wednesday, also gaining a free pass in the fifth inning when a pitch grazed the toe of his right cleat.
“I think [my swing is] going in the right direction,” Ohtani said after hitting three home runs in the last six games and bringing his OPS to .896 through Wednesday. “I think May is a good goal to see where I’m at. I feel like it’s headed in the right direction.”
Though he had a slow first week at the plate, Ohtani’s walk rate (16.9%) has been up, hence the on-base streak.
“I try to really stay with a simple approach and if they’re not throwing me strikes, I’m happy to take a walk,” he said. “If they are throwing strikes, my job is to swing at them.”
