shohei ohtani

Dodgers center fielder Andy Pages had been hearing from teammates for weeks that he would be selected as an All-Star. But he wasn’t as bullish.

“I wanted to participate, but that wasn’t in my control. I didn’t want to put it out there until I knew it was for sure,” Pages said in Spanish.

On Saturday it became official. Pages was selected as an All-Star for the first time. After coming so close in 2025, he’s set to start for the National League.

“It’s exciting to be able to participate in my first one,” Pages said before the Dodgers’ 3-0 win over the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium. “I’m really proud of the work that I’ve been doing and to have the opportunity.”

Pages is one of five Dodgers on the National League squad. Third baseman Max Muncy (third All-Star selection), first baseman Freddie Freeman (10th) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (second) were named to the NL roster Saturday. Shohei Ohtani (sixth) was named an All-Star on June 25 after leading the majors in Phase 1 voting.

“It should be [Pages’] second,” Freeman said. “I think he should have had it last year. Andy has been great for a couple years now. So I’m glad he’s getting the recognition. I’m glad the fans are gonna get to see him in Philadelphia.”

It marks the first time since 1980 that the Dodgers have had four All-Star starters. Their five All-Star selections ties the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies for the most in the majors.

Muncy is set to be the first Dodger to start the All-Star Game at third base since Ron Cey in 1977.

Though Dodgers pitcher Justin Wrobleski (10-2, 2.80 ERA) was not named an All-Star, he could play as a possible injury replacement.

The All-Star Game will be played July 14 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

Fittingly, on Saturday, Yamamoto took the mound against the Padres and threw seven shutout innings.

Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto raises his arms while walking back to the dugout in the seventh inning after striking out 10 in a 3-0 win over the San Diego Padres on Saturday night at Dodger Stadium.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

“He looked like an All-Star,” Roberts said. “He came out with a purpose. You could see the intent tonight, execution, really good from pitch one. And gave his chance to really reset the bullpen and gave us length.”

Once he settled in, he got even better. After giving up three singles in the first two innings, Yamamoto (2.49 ERA) didn’t surrender another hit. He tied a bow on the performance, ending it with his 10th strikeout.

“It’s such an honor to be selected for the All-Star team,” Yamamoto said through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda. “I was there last year and this year I feel it is even more meaningful.”

He got run support and defensive backing from his fellow All-Stars.

Andy Pages hits a run-scoring single in the third inning of a 3-0 win over the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium on Saturday night.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Pages drove in the first run in the third inning. With runners on second and third, in a 1-2 count, Pages extended to the outside edge of the plate to get around a slider and send it through the left side of the infield. The Dodgers took a 1-0 lead.

Muncy flashed the leather with a backhanded pick up the third-base line in the fifth inning.

Freeman hit a solo homer in the sixth — a moon shot that sailed higher than the fireworks going off in the neighborhoods around Dodger Stadium. Two innings later, he roped an RBI single up the middle.

The Dodgers claimed a series win in the four-game home set against their division rival, with the chance to sweep Sunday. They’ve won seven of nine games against the Padres this season.

Ohtani feeling better

Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani pumps his fist after getting San Diego’s Manny Machado to ground out in the fifth inning Friday.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Ohtani was feeling “considerably better” Saturday, after leaving Friday’s game in the seventh inning with tight right biceps.

“If things trend the way we would expect, then he’ll be in there [Sunday],” Roberts said.

Ohtani didn’t play Saturday. But Roberts confirmed after the game that he expects Ohtani to be back Sunday. Roberts didn’t expect the biceps problem to affect Ohtani’s throwing schedule between pitching starts, especially because he aggravated it on a swing.

The Dodgers, however, could still decide to have Ohtani skip his last pitching start before the All-Star break.

“The first step is how he feels tomorrow, and then the days forthcoming,” Roberts said. “So we don’t need to make that decision today, tomorrow, the next day. So we have time. And I think for us it’s just more of reading and reacting on how he feels.”

Dodgers two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani waddled through the clubhouse after the Dodgers’ 4-3 comeback victory against the Padres on Friday night, the bulging ice wraps around his left knee and right arm creating a penguin-like effect to his gait.

That in and of itself wasn’t noteworthy — ice after starts is a regular part of any pitcher’s recovery and arm care. But for Ohtani, the awkward wraps were reminders of one ailment he’s getting over, knee inflammation, and one that popped up Friday night — a right biceps problem.

“More precautionary reason,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton about being replaced by a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning. “I was a little concerned with my biceps with the last at-bat that I took.”

Ohtani limited the Padres (43-44) to three runs over 110 pitches when he stepped up to the plate in the sixth.

Teoscar Hernández hits a grand slam for the Dodgers against the San Diego Padres on Friday.

He worked a full count and then flew out to right field. Ohtani paused on his follow-through, his lips pursed, before jogging up the line.

“It’s the same location that I felt a couple months ago,” Ohtani said. “It went away relatively quickly, so I expect that to happen again.”

That Ohtani dealt with a biceps problem earlier this season was not disclosed before Friday. Even manager Dave Roberts said after the game that he had just learned about the previous ailment.

Ohtani will take off Saturday to recover, Roberts said. And Ohtani skipping his last pitching start before the All-Star break is “on the table.”

Ohtani was voted the starting designated hitter for the National League, marking his sixth straight All-Star selection. But even before Friday, it seemed unlikely he would pitch in the All-Star Game given his rotation schedule.

“He’s a quick healer, and finds a way to get back,” Roberts said. “But I do think that for us to read and react and hear what his body is telling him is really important, given the toll it takes on his body to be a two-way player.”

The injury concern replaced now-assuaged questions about Ohtani’s pairing with catcher Dalton Rushing with Will Smith (neck) on the injured list. Smith has at least resumed throwing and took swings Thursday, Roberts said, but he isn’t expected to return before the All-Star break.

The last time Rushing caught Ohtani, the pitcher took over pitch-calling after a disastrous second inning against the Twins last week.

“I just overthought last time,” Rushing said in a conversation with The Times on Thursday night. “I was trying to be perfect, and with a guy like that, you don’t have to be perfect. You just need to call the right pitches at the right time and allow his stuff to just beat them naturally. And that’s the plan [Friday]. Whether I call the pitch, he calls the pitch. I want to make sure we’re both convicted in what we’re throwing, and we can execute it to the best of our ability.”

On Friday, Ohtani handed back over pitch-calling duties, communicating with head shakes and nods instead of the PitchCom buttons on his arm.

Ohtani walked the first two batters he faced. But then he struck out three of the next four, escaping the jam down just 1-0, courtesy of an RBI single from Gavin Sheets.

That started a streak of 10 batters who Ohtani retired in order, fanning six of them.

“The best way that I can describe it is, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Rushing said when asked what he’d learned from following along last week. “That’s the way he pitches. … Trust what you do, trust how good his stuff is, and just go from there.”

Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani, left, gets a fist bump from catcher Dalton Rushing during the first inning of a 4-3 win over the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium on Friday night.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Ohtani’s back-to-back strikeouts to end the second inning were a good example. Against left-handed hitting Sung-Mun Song, he threw mostly four-seam fastballs and splitters, finishing off the six-pitch at-bat with a sweeper, according to Statcast.

Against right-handed hitting Rodolfo Durán, Ohtani threw mostly sinkers and sweepers, with one four-seamer mixed in out of seven pitches.

Ohtani eventually relented a second run with two outs in the fourth inning. He fell behind 0-2 in the count to Jackson Merrill, who flipped a strike call with an ABS challenge. Then Merrill hammered a fastball over the plate for a solo homer.

Ohtani successfully navigated traffic to throw a scoreless fifth, but Xander Bogaerts tagged him for an RBI double in the sixth.

“I think I did the bare minimum,” Ohtani said. “To get through six, to give the team the chance to win, keep the game in check. But there were some good and some bad.”

Ohtani gave up seven hits for a quality start that wasn’t his cleanest. The Dodgers (58-31), who had struggled to get anything going against Padres starter Michael King, were trailing 3-0 when Ohtani exited. But Teoscar Hernández took care of the deficit.

Teoscar Hernández hits a grand slam in the seventh inning of the Dodgers’ 4-3 win over the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium on Friday night.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Facing reliever Adrian Morejon with the bases loaded and no outs in the seventh, Hernández ambushed a first-pitch slider.

“Knowing him, every pitch is hard,” Hernández said. “I was looking for the hardest one, the fastball, middle-in. But just reacted to that one in the middle of the plate.”

Hernández drifted up the first-base line as he watched the ball fly. When it landed, he launched his bat back toward the dugout, and it made it halfway there.

“I’m just trying to find the same swing that I had before I got hurt,” Hernández said. “And at the same time, just do something for the team. It happened to be a big swing.”

SACRAMENTO — The Dodgers scratched Shohei Ohtani from his scheduled Wednesday start against the Athletics and said he would instead start Friday at Dodger Stadium against the San Diego Padres.

The Dodgers did not immediately say why they delayed Ohtani’s start or who would start in his place Wednesday. Ohtani is in the lineup at designated hitter for Tuesday’s game.

This series marks the Dodgers’ lone scheduled visit to Sacramento during the A’s three-year stay here. The A’s plan to move into a new ballpark in Las Vegas in 2028, the next time the teams are scheduled to face off.

Ohtani would have been starting on his usual six days rest. However, with the Dodgers on a run of 13 consecutive games without an off day, pushing Ohtani back at some point would allow the Dodgers to better manage his workload.

He is 8-2 with a 1.58 earned-run average this season. Among National League pitchers with at least 70 innings, his ERA is bettered only by Jacob Misiorowski of the Milwaukee Brewers (1.46).

Ohtani already has pitched 79-2/3 innings this season, his most in three years. He spent all of the 2024 season and the first half of the 2025 season rehabilitating from elbow surgery.

On Monday, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani, already elected as the NL designated hitter for next month’s All-Star Game, would not pitch in that game if he were not the starting pitcher.

“He’ll obviously DH and then we’ll go from there,” Roberts said. “I don’t know where he is with the pitching thing. We’ll see.”

The Dodgers have carefully managed Ohtani’s workload as a pitcher and might well prefer he be limited to DH in the game. It also would be impractical to have him warm up during a game in which he were hitting, and Misiorowski and Cristopher Sanchez of the host Philadelphia Phillies are top candidates to be the NL starting pitcher.

SACRAMENTO — Teoscar Hernández was back from a hamstring injury, and a little bit humble. He was about to play his first game in a month for the Dodgers.

“I don’t think they really need me in the lineup,” he said, with a hint of a smile.

Hernández hit 58 home runs over his first two seasons with the Dodgers, each of which ended in a World Series championship, so of course they need him. But, in his absence, the Dodgers had more than doubled their National League West lead.

Hernández is back, but Will Smith and Kiké Hernández still are out. So are Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell and Edwin Díaz.

No matter: The Dodgers boosted their division lead to 11 games Monday, with a 9-4 victory over the Athletics. Shohei Ohtani, Max Muncy and Andy Pages homered to highlight a 17-hit attack.

The Dodgers are on pace to win the NL West by 21 games. They boast the best record in the major leagues at 55-30, and Ohtani and the Traveling All-Stars remain baseball’s best road show.

Before the game, a guy setting up one of the merchandise stands here pointed to all the Dodgers gear for sale. He wore a Dodgers cap. He said he wished he had more Dodgers stuff to sell, because the crowd would be overwhelmingly in favor of the Dodgers.

And so it was, one day after San Diego fans complained of all the Dodgers partisans at Petco Park. In Sacramento, where the wandering home team wears a Sacramento patch on one jersey sleeve and a Las Vegas patch on the other sleeve, there were loud cheers for Ohtani and Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts, and loud chants of “Let’s go, Dodgers!”

Every Dodger in the starting lineup had two hits except for Betts, who had one.

Eric Lauer, imported to fortify a starting rotation without Glasnow and Snell, worked six innings to record the victory. He gave up three runs and four hits in the second inning, no runs and four hits over the other five.

Dodgers starting pitcher Eric Lauer worked six innings to record the victory. He gave up three runs and four hits in the second inning, no runs and four hits over the other five.

(Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)

He is 3-0 with 2.88 earned-run average in six starts for the Dodgers, the last three of them classified as quality starts.

Glasnow and Snell are weeks away from returning, and maybe more, but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said they would not lose their job because of injury.

“Eric coming over here knew that this was the deal, right?” said Roberts, who posted his 999th career win. “Until they get back. We just don’t know when. He’s just got to stay focused on doing his job. Then when that time comes we’ll see what happens.”

In the top of the second, the Dodgers bunched four hits, all singles — the first by Hernández, beating out an infield single in his first at-bat since the hamstring injury — to take a 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the inning, the A’s also bunched four hits, including a Colby Thomas home run, to take a 3-2 lead.

The rest of the Dodgers’ scoring: a solo homer by Muncy and a two-run homer by Pages in the fourth, a three-run homer by Ohtani in the sixth, and an RBI single by Freeman in the eighth. The A’s scored the final run on a wild pitch in the ninth.

Miguel Rojas said the Dodgers have flourished in the wake of significant injuries because the organization places a priority on developing players and giving them a fair shot at playing time, citing Pages, infielder Alex Freeland and pitchers Justin Wrobleski and Emmet Sheehan, as well as wise trades for supplementary players, including infielder-outfielder Tommy Edman and outfielder Alex Call.

Shohei Ohtani tosses his bat after hitting a three-run home run for the Dodgers in the sixth inning against the Athletics on Monday night.

(Sara Nevis / Associated Press)

“It’s not living with the narrative of ‘We’re buying championships and spending money,’” Rojas said. “Yeah, we’re spending money to get good players. But we’re not really basing our success just on that.

“The front office does quality work on getting the right players and putting the puzzle together. I feel that’s the reason why we can afford losing a couple guys in the middle of the year, because we have a full team that is ready to step up.”

Still, Rojas conceded none of that would matter without Ohtani, Freeman, Betts and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. And, yes, Rojas said, the Dodgers do have an irreplaceable player.

“It’s going to be really hard if we lose Shohei,” Rojas said. “It’s going to be a little bit different than losing another player. Having Shohei at the top of the lineup every single day and doing both sides of the ball has been really helpful.”

Ohtani gave the Sacramento crowd what it wanted to see: a majestic 432-foot home run, with a supercharged, 112-mph exit velocity. On Wednesday, the last day of the Dodgers’ only scheduled visit here before the A’s move to Las Vegas in 2028, he’ll take the mound to give the people more of what they want to see.

Shohei Ohtani was the first Dodger to be named a 2026 All-Star, after leading the majors in Phase 1 voting for the All-Star game on July 14 in Philadelphia. Six other Dodgers were finalists through the fan ballot, giving them a chance to claim starting spots in Phase 2 of voting.

Ohtani locked down the starting DH spot for the National League squad, with 3,341,257 votes. The top vote-getters in each league bypass Phase 2. Second baseman Ernie Clement of the Toronto Blue Jays was the top vote-getter in the Amlerican League, with 3,232,932 votes.

Ohtani was the expected choice, despite a slow offensive start. His red-hot June boosted him up the leaderboards. He entered Thursday with the second-highest OPS in the National League (.963), barely trailing Mets outfielder Juan Soto (.965).

Pitchers aren’t chosen through the fan vote — hurlers and reserves have to wait for the player ballot (which includes votes from players, coaches and managers) and commissioners picks. But Ohtani has been just as impressive on the mound this year.

He has a 1.58 ERA, the fourth-best mark among NL pitchers who have thrown at least 50 innings this season.

Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman (2,666,008 votes), third baseman Max Muncy (2,890,181) and outfielder Andy Pages (2,158,664) also led their respective NL position groups in voting. Other Dodgers finalists, who advance to voting Phase 2, include catcher Will Smith (1,871,805), shortstop Mookie Betts (1,762,343 ) and outfielder Teoscar Hernandez (1,569,932).

The vote totals reset for Phase 2, which runs from next Monday through Thursday. The remainder of the All-Star starters are set to be announced on July 4 on Fox Sports.

MINNEAPOLIS — The series finale between the Dodgers and Minnesota Twins featured a marquee pitching matchup between Shohei Ohtani and Joe Ryan. But the Dodgers’ 4-3 win on Wednesday wasn’t quite the pitcher’s duel it was advertised to be, in front of the Twins’ first sellout crowd of the season at Target Field.

The Dodgers offense had eight hits against Ryan, tied for the second-most he’s allowed in a start this season, and four runs in six innings. And Ohtani gave up three runs (two earned) and five hits.

Ryan won the first battle — the one against Ohtani the hitter to lead off the first inning.

Ohtani roped a first-pitch fastball to right field, clocking an exit velocity of 110.7-mph, into the glove of Twins outfielder Kody Clemens. That was part of a three-up, three-down first inning for Ryan. Ohtani countered with a hitless first inning of his own on the mound, but with a walk.

In the top of the second, Mookie Betts’ solo homer gave the Dodgers (52-29) an early lead. The 300th home run of Betts’ career was part of a three-hit day for the shortstop, a triple shy of the cycle.

The Twins’ offense responded.

Their first run was the result of a passed ball. Ohtani gave up singles to three of the first four batters he faced in the second inning, to load the bases. Then, Ohtani threw a first-pitch fastball inside to Ryan Kreidler. It got past catcher Dalton Rushing, who seemed to expect a different pitch, and the ball rolled out of play to tie the score.

Rushing, in his first game back in the lineup after being removed Monday to rule out a concussion, huddled with Ohtani and pitching coach Mark Prior on the mound to debrief.

Ohtani then gave up a two-run single to Kreidler before striking out Trevor Larnach to end the inning.

It was a good thing Ohtani, who went 2-for-5 on Wednesday, had lobbied to hit and pitch. Dodgers No. 9 hitter Alex Freeland led off the third with a double. Then Ohtani sent a ground ball up the middle to give himself some run support.

That started a three-run rally for the Dodgers. Max Muncy later drove in Ohtani, and Alex Call contributed a sacrifice fly to give the Dodgers a lead again.

Twins left-hander Anthony Banda, who received his World Series ring Monday from a gaggle of his former teammates, took over for Ryan in the seventh.

Ohtani was the first hitter he faced. And Banda struck him out on a fastball that barely clipped the outside corner — and was initially called a ball, before a successful ABS challenge by Twins catcher Victor Caratini.

Banda then hit Andy Pages with a pitch and gave up a single to Freeman. But he escaped unscathed, stranding them at the corners.

The Twins threatened in the seventh and eighth, but Dodgers right-hander Kyle Hurt overcame a pair of walks, and left-hander Alex Vesia navigated a pair of singles to hold the score. Closer Tanner Scott secured the save.

Major League Baseball says it has no concerns about Dodgers and Rams head team physician Dr. Neal ElAttrache working with players.

ElAttrache was questioned by MLB on June 12 following a detailed report by the New York Times that the renowned surgeon and sports medicine expert supported the therapeutic use of performance-enhancing drugs by UFC star Conor McGregor.

“MLB took our responsibility to conduct due diligence in this matter seriously. We interviewed Dr. Neal ElAttrache last week, covering multiple topics, and he answered our questions thoroughly,” MLB said in a statement obtained by The Times Tuesday night.

“Based on our interview, the review of relevant records, Dr. ElAttrache’s long history of support for and cooperation with the Joint Drug Program and the fact that no Therapeutic Use Exemption requests of this nature have been submitted by Dr. ElAttrache or anyone else, we do not have any concerns regarding Dr. ElAttrache’s treatment of MLB players, or his adherence to the Joint Drug Programs and related rules.

“We consider this matter closed.”

ElAttrache performed surgery on McGregor in July 2021, inserting a rod, plates and screws into his left leg after the fighter broke his tibia and fibula during a mixed martial arts bout against Dustin Poirier in Las Vegas.

McGregor’s recovery was lengthy and arduous. ElAttrache told the New York Times that while he did not prescribe steroids for McGregor, he referred him to a specialist who did. Furthermore, ElAttrache wrote a letter supporting McGregor’s request for a therapeutic use exemption from UFC drug policies.

“I felt it would be appropriate to consult other physicians with expertise in bone healing/bone metabolism,” ElAttrache told the New York Times via text. “I recommended the consultations but not the course of treatment.”

ElAttrache said he told McGregor to check with UFC drug testers about prescriptions the consultant gave him. “I purposely wasn’t involved with his evaluation by the consultant nor with prescribing medication,” ElAttrache said.

The exemption request was denied by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, the drug testing organization the UFC used at the time, triggering a split between the two organizations. McGregor withdrew from the UFC anti-doping program shortly thereafter and no longer was required to undergo testing for banned substances.

The report prompted MLB to talk with ElAttrache about his approach to treating players.

ElAttrache, operating primarily out of the Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic in Los Angeles, has performed elbow or shoulder surgeries on prominent Dodgers past and present, including Shohei Ohtani, Clayton Kershaw, Tony Gonsolin and Walker Buehler as well as former Rams stars Cooper Kupp and Cam Akers.

Among the hundreds of surgeries performed over three decades by ElAttrache, his patients include the four 2024 MLB most valuable player and Cy Young Award winners — Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Chris Sale and Tarik Skubal. ElAttrache’s patients include 18 of 29 players who won the MVP or Cy Young awards over the past 10 years.

“I have spoken with MLB and I am very comfortable with the process that the league and I will complete to assure the public that I have followed every rule and regulation in my medical treatment of athletes without exception,” ElAttrache said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times earlier this month. “My record is completely clean, including in this case.”

Times staff writers Steve Henson, Bill Shaikin, Sam Farmer and Gary Klein contributed to this report.

Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani was away from the team Friday for the birth of his second child.

He was out of the lineup for the series opener against the Orioles, but the Dodgers did not opt to put him on the paternity list, temporarily playing down a player instead. The team said it expects Ohtani back at some point this weekend.

Ohtani pitched Wednesday, so he should be back with the team well before his next turn in the rotation.

With Ohtani out, rookie Ryan Ward served as the designated hitter Friday, batting seventh. And right fielder Kyle Tucker moved up to the leadoff spot that Ohtani usually occupies.

Entering Friday, Ohtani owned the second-highest OPS (.962) in the National League, among qualified hitters. And his 1.47 ERA ranked No. 2 among pitchers who have thrown at least 50 innings, despite giving up seven combined earned runs in his past two starts.

Ohtani has been pitching through a blister on the middle finger of his right hand. And last week he missed a game to address a bout of inflammation in his left knee, which he thinks may have stemmed from mechanical problems in his pitching delivery.

Will Smith to get injection for neck

Catcher Will Smith (stiff neck) will get an injection to address his neck injury, manager Dave Roberts said. Recent imaging came back “fine,” Roberts said, and didn’t reveal anything “really bad.”

Smith said last week, before undergoing imaging, that he was diagnosed with an “inflamed disk.”

Smith — remaining on the injured list past the minimum stint, despite the Dodgers’ initial optimism — will be sidelined through the weekend, and he may not make the trip to Minnesota on Monday, which kicks off a three-city trip.

Edwin Díaz throwing off mound

Dodgers closer Edwin Díaz pitches against the Washington Nationals in April.

(Nick Wass / Associated Press)

Closer Edwin Díaz (elbow surgery) has progressed to throwing off the mound. He threw a 15-pitch bullpen on Friday, all fastballs, at 91-93 mph, Roberts said.

“Really positive day for Edwin,” Roberts said.

When Díaz underwent the procedure to remove loose bodies from his elbow in late April, the Dodgers eyed a post-All-Star break return. And they won’t push for an aggressive build-up, with the long-term in mind.

Short hops

Left fielder Teoscar Hernández (strained left hamstring) is on track to begin a minor-league rehab assignment early next week, Roberts said. … Left-hander Blake Snell (elbow surgery) is progressing in his throwing program after undergoing a NanoNeedle scope procedure to remove loose bodies from his elbow in mid-May. He is close to throwing off a mound, Roberts said.

Whenever Shohei Ohtani is questioned, it seems, he does something spectacular.

On Tuesday, with discussion still swirling over whether his knee problem from the week before would influence his two-way availability when he took the mound Wednesday, Ohtani broke open a scoreless standoff with a sixth-inning solo home run.

It held as the winning run, and the Dodgers went on to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 1-0.

“That’s just him,” Dodgers starting pitcher Justin Wrobleski said of Ohtani. “He’s obviously the best player of all time. I’m super lucky and blessed to be his teammate and watch him play. It’s been super cool.”

Up to that point, neither team’s starting pitcher had flinched.

Wrobleski had given up just three hits in six scoreless innings. And, along with five strikeouts, he hadn’t had more than one baserunner in any inning, squashing the scrappy Rays’ ability to manufacture a run.

Though the Dodgers had made more viable scoring threats against Rays starter Drew Rasmussen, they’d come up short for five innings.

They came within a couple of feet of scoring in the second inning, but the Rays pulled off a trick play to throw out Kyle Tucker at home.

Rays catcher Nick Fortes tags out Kyle Tucker trying to score in the second inning.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

With runners on first and third, Alex Freeland laid down a bunt to Rasmussen. When he fielded it cleanly, Tucker shuffled back toward third base. But then Rasmussen turned and fired toward second base, and Tucker took off. Rays shortstop Taylor Ward cut off the throw in front of the base and cut down Tucker as he slid headfirst for the plate.

For the next three innings, the Dodgers (47-27) failed to reach base.

Then Ohtani happened.

Leading off the sixth inning, Ohtani pounced on a cutter that drifted toward the heart of the plate.

He launched it to straightaway center field, where it bounced on the netting beyond the fence.

Rasmussen lasted through the seventh inning, leaving that home run as the only blemish on his outing. Then the two bullpens duked it out to a draw in the late innings.

Justin Wrobleski pitched six scoreless innings.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

Ohtani’s home run stood alone.

It was his fifth home run in nine games, bringing his season total to 14.

After a slow start, by his standards, Ohtani lamented his lack of power. Now, with the second-highest on-base-plus-slugging percentage in the National League (.966), just barely trailing the Washington Nationals’ James Wood (.967), Ohtani has that going for him too.

“He was hitting the ball hard, some doubles, singles,” manager Dave Roberts said. “And if he was just missing a little bit [before], there was going to be slug. So that’s what’s happening. Seeing the baseball well. Swinging at good pitches. And when he uses the big part of the field, there’s just no one better.”

The home run Tuesday, however, was not enough to claim a spot in the batting order Wednesday. Not in an extra-early 12:10 p.m. game. Not just days removed from a bout of inflammation in his left knee.

Before the game, Ohtani threw off a mound to test his knee before his scheduled pitching start the next day. It went well enough that he’ll be taking the mound, Roberts confirmed Tuesday night. But he will not be hitting.

Roberts will keep a close eye on Ohtani, who left the game last Thursday with a swollen knee and then sat out Friday. Ohtani theorized over the weekend that issues with his pitching mechanics may have aggravated his knee.

Said Roberts: “He wouldn’t start if we felt that we were going to put him in harm’s way.”

Glasnow hopes to begin throwing soon

In retrospect, it’s clear to right-hander Tyler Glasnow that he tried to start throwing a little too quickly after back spasms pulled him out of his start against the Houston Astros on May 6. But at the time of the injury, Glasnow, who is no stranger to back problems, was encouraged.

“It didn’t feel as bad when I first did it,” Glasnow told The Times on Tuesday.

Nearly a month and a half later, Glasnow has twice tried to restart throwing, and twice he’s had to shut it down.

“Frustrating, for sure,” Glasnow said. “Just because it happens so frequently. A lot of times I just want to find a way to address the underlying issues of why it happens.”

He has yet to find that long-term solution, but he does not expect to have surgery.

Glasnow, encouraged by his recent improvement, expects to start throwing again “soon.”

“We’re just waiting for it to be fully, fully healed,” he said.

Edman activated

As expected, the Dodgers activated Tommy Edman (right ankle surgery) off the injured list Tuesday and designated utility man Santiago Espinal for assignment.

Edman didn’t make his season debut, but Roberts said he’ll play a mixture of second base, third and left field, with his playing time dictated by factors such as pitcher matchups and the availability of left fielder Teoscar Hernández’s (strained left hamstring), who’s still on the IL.

CHICAGO — Fans around Rate Field rose to their feet as Yoshinobu Yamamoto embraced his teammates before walking off the mound.

Of course, the Dodgers fans stood. But fans clad in White Sox jerseys joined them, waving White Sox hats in the air, acknowledging the brilliance they’d just witnessed.

In the Dodgers’ 7-1 win against the White Sox on Saturday, Yamamoto carried a perfect game bid into the eighth inning and a no-hit bid into the ninth.

Dating back to Yamamoto’s last start, against the Angels, he retired 45 straight batters, one shy of the major-league record set by Yusmeiro Petit in 2014.

In an eventful game, which included Shohei Ohtani returning to the lineup to homer in his first at-bat, a two-homer performance from Max Muncy, and a team-effort bounce-back after getting blown out the night before, Yamamoto’s performance on the mound stole the show.

Yamamoto, who exited with one out in the ninth inning and a pitch count of 109, was efficient even within each out. A 10-pitch strikeout in the third inning showed how Yamamoto wasn’t going to give in.

The Dodgers right-hander was one pitch away from striking out Jacob Gonzalez for seven straight pitches. But Gonzalez kept fouling off anything close to the strike zone.

For the 10th pitch of the at-bat, Yamamoto challenged Gonzalez with a cutter over the plate. And finally, Gonzalez swung through it.

The next inning, Yamamoto retired the side in eight pitches.

The only thing that slowed his roll was the mound itself. Yamamoto asked for the grounds crew to fix it in the sixth. And then he kept cruising.

Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing slaps hands with Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the ninth inning Saturday against the White Sox.

(Zoe Davis / Getty Images)

He had help from a steady defense behind him for much of the game.

The sixth inning included two highlight-worthy plays. Tristan Peters hit a sharp ground ball up the first-base line, and first baseman Freddie Freeman made a sliding stop, tossing the ball to Yamamoto at first to complete the play. Then left-fielder Alex Call ran into the retaining wall in foul territory to catch Edgar Quero’s fly ball for the final out of the inning.

For the most part, Yamamoto made it look easy. The hardest contact against Yamamoto came the third time through the lineup. In the seventh, he pumped a heater to the top rail against Miguel Vargas, who stayed on top of the pitch to send a line drive to left field — and right to Call.

In the eighth, he fell behind Colson Montgomery 3-1. But he worked back to a full count. Montgomery then scorched a line drive up the first-base line — into Freeman’s glove.

His perfect game bid ended two batters later, with two outs, on an error.

Yamamoto got Chase Meidroth to chase a slider, hitting a ground ball to shortstop Mookie Betts. But Betts mishandled the hop. The ball shot to his left, where second baseman Santiago Espinal tried to salvage the play but couldn’t pick up the ricochet cleanly.

The no-hit bid was next to fall. Yamamoto piped a fastball down the middle to Peters, who sent it over the wall in right field.

Yamamoto stayed in for one more batter, inducing Quero to fly out, before handing the ball over to manager Dave Roberts. Left-hander Alex Vesia took over for the final two outs.

Ohtani returns, hits home run

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani runs the bases after hitting a home run against the White Sox on Saturday.

(Matt Marton / Associated Press)

Before Yamamoto took the mound, Ohtani’s return was the big story of the day.

As Ohtani stepped into the batter’s box for the first time, he was greeted by a smattering of boos.

He took his first swing at the second pitch of the game. And he sent it into the right-field stands. A no-doubter, proclaiming that his availability was no longer in doubt.

Ohtani returned to the Dodgers lineup after exiting against the Pirates on Thursday because of inflammation in his left knee.

“I think Shohei drove it,” Roberts said of the decision to play. “Training staff drove it. We took him out of the game the other night just for precautionary reasons. Yesterday, treated it up. Today he feels great. All the confidence that he can go out there and hit, feel good, not regress at all.”

The Dodgers (45-26) will continue to monitor Ohtani’s knee as he prepares to take the mound Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Rays at Dodger Stadium.

“I think we’re full go,” Roberts said before Ohtani threw on flat ground Saturday. “But I do think once he’s out there playing catch and we see how his knee responds to the pressure, the torque will be some good information.”

Even before Ohtani’s knee swelled (it’s still unclear what caused the inflammation) the Dodgers planned to have him pitch the day before their off-day on Thursday.

They switched Ohtani and left-hander Justin Wrobleski in the rotation order, with Wrobleski set to pitch Tuesday on regular rest.

That remains the plan, even after Wrobleski was hit in the leg by a comebacker Thursday. He left the game with a bruised right hamstring.

The Dodgers considered bringing in a spot starter, Roberts said, in order to keep the full rotation on extra rest.

“But considering how Wrobo’s start went short, feels good after it, we feel the four days’ rest will be fine for him,” Roberts said. “And then where Shohei is at, we feel good about just leaving it status quo.”

Ohtani returned without restrictions in his designated-hitter role — except for one request from his manager, after a couple days of parsing whether a steal attempt that was snuffed out by a foul ball had contributed to Ohtani’s injury.

Though they didn’t find a clear inciting incident, Roberts made it clear Saturday: “There will be no base stealing.”

CHICAGO — Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani was out of the lineup Friday against the White Sox after exiting the game before with discomfort in the back of his left knee.

Manager Dave Roberts had expressed optimism Thursday night, after the Dodgers’ 8-6 win against the Pirates at PNC Park, that Ohtani would not miss additional time for the ailment. But he added: “Obviously with the travel [to Chicago on Thursday night], we’ll just kind of see how he comes in.”

Especially at this point in the season, the Dodgers have incentive to play it safe with Ohtani’s recovery. Pushing him to return early and exacerbating the injury would be a larger blow to a team seeking its third straight World Series championship.

With Ohtani out, left fielder Alex Call was in the leadoff spot, and Santiago Espinal served as the designated hitter.

It was not immediately clear whether the injury would affect Ohtani’s next pitching start. He’s lined up to take the mound Wednesday against the Rays, before the Dodgers’ off day Thursday.

PHOENIX — Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had a decision to make.

Before the Diamondbacks’ Ketel Marte delivered the walk-off blow to the Dodgers — a towering home run off reliever Tanner Scott, punctuated by a bat flip — Roberts had to choose whether to send Shohei Ohtani to the plate as a pinch-hitter.

In a 3-2 loss, Ohtani, who didn’t start after two-way duties the day before, remained in the dugout.

“It has to be the right spot,” Roberts said.

The defensive picture complicated the calculus.

If Scott had thrown a scoreless inning and sent the game into the 10th, Roberts planned to have Ohtani pinch hit for Miguel Rojas, the third batter due up.

In the ninth, however, unless Ohtani replaced designated hitter Will Smith (who ended up hitting a two-out double), Roberts would have had to put in a defensive replacement for the bottom half of the inning.

“I didn’t want to go two innings trying to figure out how to play defense with Shohei then being out of the game,” Roberts said.

Roberts already had been forced to use the rest of his bench.

Third baseman Max Muncy exited in the fifth inning after a collision at first base, and Santiago Espinal replaced him. When rookie left fielder Ryan Ward walked in the seventh inning, the speedier and more defensively sound Alex Call replaced him on the bases. And in the eighth, the right-handed hitting Rojas pinch-hit for Alex Freeland against Diamondbacks left-hander Brandyn Garcia.

Arizona’s Ketel Marte, center, celebrates with teammates as he steps on home plate after hitting a walk-off home run against the Dodgers on Thursday.

(Christian Petersen / Getty Images)

The Dodgers had Andy Pages, Kyle Tucker and Smith — none of whom were candidates to be pulled for a pinch-hitter — due up in the ninth. But after Smith hit a two-out double, leaving first base open, the Diamondbacks surely would have intentionally walked Ohtani if he pinch-hit for Espinal.

Then, the Dodgers would have had to reconfigure their defense, likely moving first baseman Freddie Freeman to third, catcher Dalton Rushing to first base and Smith behind the plate, forfeiting the designated hitter spot.

That would mean a shaky defensive lineup with the game still on the line in the ninth, with pitchers forced to hit if it went into extra innings.

So, instead, Roberts saved Ohtani.

“Once we get into extra innings, then I would fire that bullet,” Roberts said.

The Dodgers, however, didn’t get to extra innings. Scott struck out the first batter he faced. Then he threw a fastball down and in to Marte, who managed to get the barrel of his bat to it.

“You’ve got to tip your cap,” Scott said. “He’s a good hitter. Should I have gone up and in? Yeah. Or just a slider. I knew he was going to be aggressive.”

Ohtani dealing with blister

Ohtani has been dealing with a small blister on the middle finger of his right hand for his last couple starts, Roberts said.

“I don’t expect it to affect him going forward,” Roberts said Thursday afternoon, the day after Ohtani held the Diamondbacks to two hits in six scoreless innings. “Even [Wednesday], if we wouldn’t have tacked on, he would’ve stayed in there.”

Roberts pulled Ohtani after the Dodgers pulled out to a seven-run lead in the top of the seventh inning.

Roberts also said he didn’t believe the blister affected Ohtani’s command last week, when he threw six hitless innings against the Rockies but issued four walks and hit a batter.

“When his command has been off, I think it’s a bigger thing than just a blister,” Roberts said. “Because it’s a small blister. That’s just when his mechanics are out of whack.”

PHOENIX — The Dodgers had managed to cling to their lead over the Diamondbacks despite the comeback attempt the home team had mounted in the late innings.

Now it was up to left-hander Tanner Scott, coming off his first blown save of the season, to finish the job.

With the would-be tying run standing on first base and one out, Scott crashed hard on Geraldo Perdomo’s sacrifice bunt and zipped a throw across the diamond just in time for the out.

Then to tie a bow on the outing, Scott got Pavin Smith to lunge after an outside slider and ground into the final out of the game.

“It was good to see,” manager Dave Roberts said after the Dodgers’ 6-5 win Tuesday. I thought from pitch one he was pitching with a purpose. Obviously there was no margin with a one-run lead. I just liked the way he was going after those guys.”

Though the Dodgers led for the game from Freddie Freeman’s first-inning homer on, it was a nail-biter. The Diamondbacks rallied against a Dodgers bullpen that had been practically flawless for weeks. Roberts made five pitching changes. But with an offensive bounce-back and strong pitching performances on the front and back end, the Dodgers evened the series at Chase Field.

Mookie Betts, from left, Max Muncy, Freddie Freeman and Alex Freeland await the pitcher.

(Rick Scuteri / Associated Press)

“It’s nice after only scoring one [Monday] to get out and get some runs early on the board,” said Freeman, who led the team with three hits. “Four runs in the first couple innings, you would hope you keep going. But two in the middle innings there was good enough. Pitching was good again. Got a little hairy at the end, but luckily pulled it off.”

Freeman and Ohtani teamed up to give the Dodgers that four-run lead against Diamondbacks starter Michael Soroka in the first two innings.

A double from Ohtani preceded Freeman’s first-inning blast. Then the next inning, Dalton Rushing and Alex Freeland’s back-to-back singles set up Ohtani to score them both when he lined a triple into the right-field corner.

Dodgers starter Eric Lauer, making his second start since the trade that brought him over from the Blue Jays, tossed two scoreless frames to maintain that lead.

In the third, however, Diamondbacks star Corbin Carroll sent a cutter the other way, and it bounced off the top of the left-field wall into the home bullpen for Arizona’s first run of the night.

Lauer relied on soft contact to throw a scoreless fourth inning, but he ran into some trouble in the fifth, with back-to-back singles, a sacrifice fly, a disengagement violation and PitchCom issues.

In a two-run game, Roberts pulled the plug before Lauer could face right-handed No. 3 hitter Gabriel Moreno for a third time, even though Lauer had set him down twice. Lauer’s pitch count was only up to 70, after giving up five hits in 4 ⅔ innings.

“I thought I could have tried to convince him on the mound [to let me stay in], but he kind of stuck his hand out right away, so I didn’t have a huge chance there,” Lauer said. “But afterwards, we talked, and he explained his thought process to me and just reiterated his thoughts, and I agreed. And I think that’s huge, just to be able to have that conversation.”

Lauer did have an inkling, however, that he wasn’t going to be in the game too much longer with Nolan Arenado on deck. Arenado entered Tuesday with eight hits off Lauer in 27 at-bats (.296 batting average). Half of them were homers.

“We’re still learning each other, so it’s just making sure that [he knows] I do believe in him,” Roberts said of their conversation. “If I’m not going to let him go through Arenado right there, I felt it would give Blake the best chance to get us out of that inning in a tight ball game.

“I don’t want him looking over his shoulder. I pushed him in his first start, didn’t push him this start, because he was really good for us. And I just don’t want anything lost in translation or the assumption game. So I just wanted to kind of be forthright.”

Shohei Ohtani reacts after scoring on a single by Mookie Betts in the seventh inning,

(Rick Scuteri / AP)

Roberts turned to right-handed reliever Blake Treinen, who walked Moreno but got out of the inning by inducing Arenado to fly out to left field. Rookie Ryan Ward, in his fourth major league game, made the sliding catch.

The Dodgers (39-22) added insurance in the seventh, manufacturing the first with a double from Dalton Rushing, sacrifice bunt from Alex Freeland, an intentional walk to Ohtani, and sacrifice fly from Andy Pages. Back-to-back singles from Freedman and Betts pushed across a second run.

The Diamondbacks countered. And for the first time, the Dodgers’ lead looked like it was in danger.

Dodgers reliever Kyle Hurt’s command was shaky from the start. And his two walks with less than two out in the seventh came back to haunt him, as both baserunners scored on Arenado’s double off the wall. Ward bobbled the ball as he picked it up for the relay home and a close play at the plate for the second run.

Hurt issued a third walk, a season high, before fellow right-hander Will Klein replaced him.

Pinch-hitter Geraldo Perdomo shot a line-drive single off Klein into shallow left field, loading the bases. Klein walked in a run, which trimmed the Dodgers’ lead to 6-5.

A broken-bat grounder to the right side of the infield, hunted down by Freeman ranging to his backhand side from first base, ended the inning.

Infield defense again got Klein out of a jam in the eighth, turning a double play after back-to-back singles to maintain the lead.

“They’re not going to be clean every time out there,” Roberts said of Hurt and Klein, two relievers he’s trusted in high-leverage situations this year. “They’ve both been very good for us. You’ve got to give those guys credit today, the Diamondbacks. They spoiled some pitches. They hit to the opposite field. They battled tonight.”

Scott (2.10 ERA) took over in the ninth, in his first appearance since Saturday, when he broke a streak of 12 appearances without giving up a run. His wife Maddie posted screenshots of the death threats their family received via social media in the aftermath.

On Tuesday, Scott retired three of the four batters he faced, with only a well-placed single through the right side of the field — a “soft-serve hit, as Roberts put it” — marring the outing.

Said Roberts: “Outside of that, he was really sharp tonight.”

MILWAUKEE — Something about American Family Field in the regular season disagrees with the Dodgers.

They began this road trip with a pair of statement series, sweeping the Angels and edging out the Padres. But their momentum came to a grinding halt when they fell 5-1 to the Brewers on Friday in Milwaukee.

The loss brought back memories of last year, when the Brewers swept the regular-season series, before the Dodgers swept them in the National League Championship Series.

“I don’t think people appreciate how well this team plays baseball,” manager Dave Roberts said before the game. “There’s not a lot of fanfare as far as name recognition. But the way [Brewers manager] Pat Murphy gets these guys to play, it’s a fun brand of baseball.

“They don’t strike out much. They put the ball in play. They bunt, they hit and run, they steal bases, they can pitch. It’s a good matchup. Last year, during the regular season, we couldn’t beat these guys once, so I expect us to play better baseball this year.”

That brand of baseball was a bit of a nightmare for Dodgers starter Justin Wrobleski in the first inning. The Brewers batted around en route to a five-run rally. Five of their six hits were singles. The one exception was William Contreras’ three-run homer.

The next inning, they tacked on another run when Contreras singled and then scored when Andrew Vaughn’s double ricocheted off the wall in the right-field gap.

Wrobleski turned around his outing by blanking the Brewers for the next three innings, but the deficit proved to be too steep for the Dodgers to overcome.

Wrobleski has only given up more than two runs in one other start this season. That one also featured one high-scoring inning and a mid-game adjustment.

The Dodgers’ offense, in contrast to the Brewers’, didn’t record a hit off Brewers starter Logan Henderson until the fourth inning. He faced the minimum through the first three innings — a leadoff walk erased when Shohei Ohtani was caught stealing.

Finally in the fourth, Ohtani worked a 2-2 count and lined a hung change-up into right field. Then Freddie Freeman and Andy Pages drew walks to load the bases with two outs. But the Dodgers failed to capitalize.

The Dodgers again threatened after the Brewers replaced Henderson with left-handed reliever Shane Drohan, drawing a pair of walks to put runners on first and second. But the inning ended with a long flyout from Max Muncy, just a few feet shy of a base hit.

They needed some help from the Brewers’ defense to finally put a run on the board. Third baseman Luis Rengifo mishandled a ground ball to let Teoscar Hernández reach base in the seventh inning. A single from Dalton Rushing and a fly out from Miguel Rojas moved him to third. Ohtani delivered the sacrifice fly.

The Dodgers’ Max Muncy leaves the game after being hit by a pitch during the eighth inning against the Brewers at American Family Field on Friday in Milwaukee, Wisc.

(Patrick McDermott / Getty Images)

The Dodgers may have to deal with additional repercussions. Muncy exited in the top of the eighth inning after being hit in the hand/wrist by a pitch.

Muncy shouted as soon as the 95.5-mph sinker struck him, and he appeared to cradle his right arm. After consulting with an athletic trainer, he touched first base and was replaced by Santiago Espinal.

The severity of Muncy’s injury was not immediately clear.

Chris Taylor retires

The MiLB transaction log Friday showed that former Dodger Chris Taylor has retired after a 12-year major-league career. He spent a decade with the Dodgers, was named the 2017 NLCS MVP, won two World Series, and was an All-Star in 2021.

SAN DIEGO — The crack of the bat reverberated throughout Petco Park. The crowd let out a collective, “Oh.” And Shohei Ohtani started his trot around the bases.

Padres center fielder Jackson Merrill made a valiant effort to bring back the home run. But after leaping and stretching his entire torso over the top of the wall, the ball fell just out of his reach.

Ohtani, hitting while pitching for the first time in almost four weeks, had homered on the first pitch of the game.

Manager Dave Roberts has held Ohtani out of the batting order for each of his last three starts on the mound, in what’s become a start-by-start decision. But Wednesday, he handled pitching and hitting duties, with immediate positive feedback.

“Obviously it’s a big series, and with the way he’s swinging the bat, I feel it gives us the best chance to win,” Roberts said before the game. “And last week, giving him a couple days off to reset, I thought that was beneficial. We’re on the heels of an off day [Thursday]. So I think all that in total, it just made sense to have him hit today.”

Roberts has also witnessed a “recharged” Ohtani on this trip, as evident on the basepaths and in the batter’s box.

Roberts and Ohtani differ in how much they credit his offensive turnaround to the two-day break from hitting that Roberts gave the two-way phenom last week, versus the progress he was already showing. But Ohtani entered Wednesday with four doubles and 10 hits total in five games against the Angels and Padres.

“I think he’s getting there,” Roberts said before the game. “I wouldn’t say he’s back; I think he’s getting there.”

Didn’t hit. Didn’t pitch.

But that didn’t make Shohei Ohtani not the story.

On the contrary. Seeing him chillin’ in a Dodger-blue hoodie — and not dressed for success in his white home uniform top — was the most striking part of the Dodgers’ 5-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Thursday at Dodger Stadium.

Back on Tuesday, before the Dodgers’ fourth consecutive loss, with Ohtani having recorded just four hits in 36 at-bats, manager Dave Roberts announced plans to bench baseball’s best player.

To get him some R&R — rest and reset. “A good spa day,” Roberts would joke Thursday.

Of course, it’s Ohtani, so much is being made of the much-needed breather.

Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run Tuesday at Dodger Stadium.

(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)

Maybe you hate it. Maybe you hate it for him. Maybe you think a $700 million contract doesn’t account for days off. Maybe you were among the unfortunate 51,048 paying customers who came to watch the Dodgers even their series with the Giants without Ohtani’s help, and you’re sad about it.

Maybe, though, you should give Roberts the benefit of the doubt. Maybe you should remind yourself Ohtani isn’t actually a unicorn. Not a myth, but a man.

“Mentally, the days that he does pitch, it’s tougher on him [to also hit],” Roberts said Thursday. “Physically, it’s the day after.”

And so the manager wasn’t joking; he wasn’t juking. Even after Ohtani homered for the first time in 53 plate appearances in Tuesday’s 6-2 loss, Roberts stuck with the plan and gave his superstar a whole day off Thursday after having him only pitch the night before.

Only. As in that he only pitched seven scoreless innings, only struck out eight and only lowered his ERA to a major-league leading 0.82. Yes, he only teed up the Dodgers for a 4-0 victory. An honestly exceptional day’s work for anyone else.

Then on Thursday, Ohtani contributed only vibes.

Which was weird. Which was good.

Instead of swinging a bat, Ohtani served as the welcoming committee after Will Smith led off the game with a home run. Ohtani was later an accessory to Smith’s prank filling Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s hood with wrapped pieces of bubble gum. And still, for the second consecutive game without him in the lineup, the Dodgers (26-18) finished the job.

For all of their recent scuffing and shuffling, these loaded, baseball-ruining Dodgers should be able to survive an Ohtani skip day every so often.

Even without Ohtani or Mookie Betts, a lineup with Smith, Freddie Freeman, Kyle Tucker, Andy Pages, Max Muncy and Teoscar Hernández should be able to overpower the lowly Giants, who have been outscored by 45 runs and now are 18-26.

Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani laughs with teammates while sitting in the dugout before a game against the Giants Thursday.

(Ryan Sun / Associated Press)

But maybe you think: Here the Dodgers go again, making it too complicated, being too cute. They’re back to being too cautious, too careful.

But don’t think of it as load management. Consider it asset management.

The Dodgers are going to protect their personnel from as much wear and tear as possible — and from themselves.

Obviously, Ohtani — who came into the season appearing to really covet the Cy Young award — is capable of multidimensional greatness. He’s the Him who closed out the National League Championship Series with a wildest-dream-exceeding, 10-strikeout, three-home run game.

But it’s important that the Dodgers don’t let the 31-year-old burn himself out.

“The thing is with all players, once you get to a point where you’re exhausted and tired and that’s in the middle of the summer, it’s tough to recoup,” Roberts said. “So you kind of have to know how to push them but not get to the red line point. If we can kind of hold and get a good rhythm, which I think we’re getting a good grasp on now, then we’ll have more of a base, a foundation to push him when the time is right. It’s certainly not right now.”

Roberts said Ohtani is sharing in these decisions. If there are days that Roberts feels like Ohtani would benefit from a day off, he’s given the manager his blessing.

Sometimes less is more, even for the guy who can do it all.

HOUSTON — It was the perfect time for Shohei Ohtani to step up to the plate. The Dodgers’ offense was rolling again, ready to make a statement with a third-inning rally against the Astros. They loaded the bases and turned over the batting order.

Then Ohtani chased a sinker off the plate and chopped a slow bouncer to Astros third baseman Isaac Paredes, giving him an easy play at second. A far departure from the eye-popping exit velocities that Ohtani’s swing usually produces, the run-scoring grounder was soft enough to avoid a double play.

In the Dodgers’ 8-3 win Monday against the Astros, Ohtani’s hitless streak stretched to five games, his longest such skid since 2022, when he also went five games without a hit (May 24-28).

“I do feel like over the course of my career it’s just a reality that I’m not exactly hitting at the best of my ability at this time of year,” Ohtani said last week through interpreter Will Ireton. “At the same time, as a player, I do want to be better and get to that position where I’m feeling really good. It’s a balancing act of the two.”

The rest of the Dodgers’ offense finally broke out on Monday, against a snakebitten Astros pitching staff.

Alex Freeland ended the Dodgers’ homerless streak at six games with an opposite-field shot into the Crawford boxes in the second inning. Leading off the third, Kyle Tucker hit a solo home run of his own, giving the Dodgers their first multi-homer game in two weeks.

Seven Dodgers combined for 13 hits, with Freeland and Will Smith leading the pack with three apiece. Tucker and Freddie Freeman each contributed a pair of RBIs.

The offensive surge just didn’t extend to Ohtani.

Kyle Tucker hits a solo home run for the Dodgers in the third inning against the Astros on Monday.

(Tim Warner / Getty Images)

In contrast to his offensive struggles, Ohtani has been dominant on the mound. He earned a pitcher of the month award for the first time in his career Monday after recording a 0.60 ERA in five starts in March and April.

Unhappy with just one-sided success, however, Ohtani shook up his routine with early on-field batting practice Monday.

“Most of the times when he does this, it works,” manager Dave Roberts said.

Ohtani took on-field batting practice before Game 3 of the 2025 NL Championship Series and then hit three home runs in Game 4. He usually prefers the batting cages for his pregame BP. But Monday marked the second time this season that he moved his session to the field.

“If you hit a ball down the line the other way in the cage, it kind of looks like it’s a foul ball,” hitting coach Aaron Bates said. “Whereas on the field you can see it’s fair, you can kind of see the spin of the ball a little better. It just kind of changes up the environment a little bit. The depth perception, too, helps a lot.”

Hitting the ball the other way was one of Ohtani’s goals.

Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivers during the first inning Monday against the Astros.

(Ashley Landis / Associated Press)

Amid his slow offensive start, Ohtani’s swing has become pull-happy. He’s been hitting the ball to the right side at 53.4% entering Monday, compared to 43.2% last season, according to Statcast.

“It’s more about timing and feel for him, backing up the baseball,” Bates said. “When he gathers correctly and hits through the baseball, obviously we’ve seen what he’s capable of doing. But just kind of managing his at-bats right now, trying to get to the big part of the park.”

For the first time since 2023, Ohtani is also balancing a full starting pitcher’s workload with his offensive responsibilities.

“It is easier to maintain something good when things are going well,” Ohtani said. “But when things are not going well, it’s not easy, in the sense that I have to make sure that I’m healthy and not overdoing it in terms of repetition. So while I’m working on certain things, it’s also a balancing act of making sure I’m not overdoing it physically and making sure that I’m healthy.”

No matter what, it’s going to take a greater physical toll. Case in point: after hitting on the field Monday, Ohtani also threw a bullpen session.

The Dodgers have tried to help him manage his workload by giving him days off from hitting on some of his pitching days. Those pitching-only days weren’t a regular occurrence when Ohtani was with the Angels, but now Ohtani is also preparing for what’s expected to be a deep postseason run.

The Dodgers have given Ohtani two pitching-only days already this season, but Roberts said he plans to have Ohtani hit when he pitches against the Astros on Tuesday.

“It’s doable,” Roberts said when asked about Ohtani trying to fix his swing while pitching. “The bottom line is, there’s no other alternative. He’s going to DH a lot. He’s going to pitch a lot. Now, how best we preserve him and keep him strong and healthy is the question.”

Ohtani’s search for his usual offensive production will continue at least another day. He drew two walks Monday. And the best contact he made was on a fly out to center field (91.2 mph exit velocity) in the seventh inning.

Today I watched as Shohei Ohtani, the day after pitching seven innings, go 0 for 5 with two strikeouts while grounding into a double play. The sample size, at this point, has to be large enough for Dave Roberts and the Dodgers’ management to discuss the elephant in the room with their lead-off batter. He should not bat when he pitches, and he should have a day off after he pitches.

It could also be argued that he should not be the lead-off batter — his average and on-base percentage are lower than, say, Hyeseong Kim, who is also faster and would be a distraction for an opposing pitcher as a threat to steal. It would also give someone for Shohei to drive in if he dropped down the order a spot or two. If baseball is a numbers exercise, then the Dodgers need to do the math.

Peter Maradudin
Burlingame

I have seen enough of Kyle Tucker to know the Dodgers lineup of Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Will Smith, Tucker, Teo Hernández, Max Muncy, Andy Pages and Hyeseong Kim needs to be changed. Kim has better defense and is a base-stealer. Freeman is not a switch hitter since he can’t hit from the right side. Also, no lefty in the bullpen knows how to throw a screwball?

Ed Villanueva
Chino Hills

SAN FRANCISCO — The Dodgers tout Yoshinobu Yamamoto as a Cy Young award contender, and every one of his starts has been a quality start, including the one he made here Tuesday.

The Dodgers talk up Shohei Ohtani as a Cy Young award contender, and Ohtani has given up one run all season. He pitched six shutout innings here Wednesday.

But the pitcher who delivered the best start of this series against the San Francisco Giants, and the one that stood tall between the Giants and what would have been a humiliating sweep, was Tyler Glasnow.

That was one storyline from an eventful afternoon at the ballpark and, for the Dodgers, a sorely needed 3-0 victory on a day they found themselves a new cleanup hitter, a new closer — and on a day a Giants player blasted a Dodgers player for making a “dirty” play.

Nothing like a little bad blood to breathe a little life into a languishing rivalry.

The cleanup hitter: Kyle Tucker, dropped from second to fourth in the lineup after his average had fallen to .233, ignited a two-run rally in the fourth inning with a double and delivered his first two-hit game in 17 days.

The closer: Tanner Scott, just as the Dodgers planned last year. After Glasnow pitched eight shutout innings and gave up one hit, Scott got the first save situation since the Dodgers lost closer Edwin Díaz to elbow surgery. Scott has a 0.84 ERA this season, including the perfect ninth inning he worked Thursday for the first of what might be quite a few saves this season.

The Dodgers (17-8), remember, signed him for $72 million as their closer last season, but he lost his job and did not pitch in the playoffs.

“It was terrible,” he said. “But I washed it away.”

The “dirty” play was the second of two acts in a sixth-inning drama.

On Tuesday, cameras caught Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing muttering something after looking back at the Giants’ Jung Hoo Lee, who was in discomfort after an awkward slide at home plate. Rushing had tagged out Lee and was headed back to the dugout when he turned back to see Lee on the ground, then kept going.

Rushing did not play Wednesday. On Thursday, in his third plate appearance, Rushing was hit by a pitch from San Francisco starter Logan Webb.

Webb dodged a question about whether the pitch was a response to the thing that happened with Rushing and Lee.

“What thing with Jung Hoo?” Webb said. He simply described the pitch as “fastball, inside.”

Said Rushing: “I like getting on base. Whatever works. If it was intentional, I’ll take it. I’ll take what I deserve. I’ve cleared the air with all of that. I’ve made sure Jung Hoo is good and healthy.”

When the following batter, Hyeseong Kim, grounded to second baseman Luis Arraez, Rushing threw up his hands and slid away from the base to try and prevent shortstop Willy Adames from completing the double play.

The second-base umpire pointed at Rushing and awarded the Giants with the double play. The first-base umpire ruled the Giants had completed the double play anyway, since Adames’ throw beat Kim to first base.

“For me, that’s not good baseball,” Arraez said. “It’s dirty.”

Rushing said the slide was not his response to getting hit.

“I was taught that in college,” he said. “That’s kind of the way you go in, especially when you have a speedster like that with Hyeseong behind me. You’re not going four or five feet outside the bag. You stay within the body length and try to break up a double play. Nothing against any of those guys right there.”

Did Dodgers manager Dave Roberts believe Webb’s pitch was intentional?

“It probably was,” Roberts said. “For me, he [Rushing] said what he said. I don’t think he meant it too personally. But they see it, social media catches it, Webb is an old-school guy. He’s protecting his teammates. I’ve got no problem with it.”

Roberts said he saw nothing wrong with Rushing’s slide.

“I like that too,” Roberts said. “That’s baseball. They’re going to hit you. You know, Webb has got really good command. I get it. They’ll deny it. I like the way he went in hard. No problem. That’s nothing against Adames, but he went in hard and they turned a double play. That’s good baseball — good, hard-nosed baseball.”

And winning baseball, for a happy flight after a mediocre trip. The Dodgers concluded a 3-4 trip to Colorado and San Francisco, the teams projected to finish in the bottom two spots in the National League West. Up next: the Chicago Cubs, winners of nine consecutive games.

Glasnow faced one batter over the minimum over his eight innings. The one hit he allowed was a single. He struck out nine. His ERA is 2.45, with Yamamoto at 2.48.

Roberts said the combination of Glasnow’s evolving maturity — his ability to respond to setbacks and challenges — makes him a legitimate Cy Young candidate.

“Now, for me, he’s going to be in that conversation,” Roberts said. “And I think for me, that was the missing piece. You know you’re not going to feel great every outing. There’s going to be stress, there’s going to be things that you can’t control, and you got to be able to manage it. And I think now he’s equipped mentally to do that.”

There is one thing Glasnow has yet to accomplish. The Dodgers decided a season-high 105 pitches from an oft-injured pitcher was enough this early in the year.

However, this could have been his big chance: In 133 major league starts and 130 minor league starts, he never has pitched a complete game.

“That,” Glasnow said, “would be sick.”

Dodgers right-hander Shohei Ohtani had navigated the Mets lineup without much trouble until the fifth inning. But he’d also been holding back a little something.

“I can’t go full throttle the whole time,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton after the Dodgers’ 8-2 victory Wednesday. “But considering where the game was at that point, I felt like I just really had to go full throttle and make sure I’m considering the game situation.”

The Mets had just scored their first run of the game — ending Ohtani’s streak of innings without an earned run at 32 ⅔, the longest of his career — and cut the Dodgers’ lead to one.

So he unleashed a 100.2 mph fastball past Tommy Pham, and then 100.3 mph. Pham foul-tipped both and had some choice words with himself on the way back to the dugout.

“He has a little extra gear when he needs it,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I’m sure he was frustrated about giving up a run, and then came back and really went after Pham.”

That strikeout was one of 10 Ohtani had in a performance that was dominant, regardless of the first mark on his previously spotless ERA.

Holding the Mets to one run through six innings, Ohtani logged double-digit strikeouts in a regular-season start as a Dodger for the first time, matching his effort in Game 4 of the 2025 National League Championship Series against the Brewers.

Shohei Ohtani pitches against the New York Mets.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Roberts said he’d been considering pulling Ohtani after the fifth inning started going sideways.

Ohtani had faced just one over the minimum through the first four innings he pitched. Then in the fifth he issued two walks before giving up a run-scoring ground-rule double to Mets designated hitter MJ Melendez on a line drive into the right-field corner.

Roberts changed his mind after Ohtani steamrolled Pham and got Francisco Lindor to line out to escape the inning without further damage.

“Just added a little more intensity after they scored a run,” Ohtani said. “But overall it felt really nice and easy and loose throughout the whole outing. So I think that’s the reason why I threw a little harder.”

Good thing Roberts sent Ohtani back out, too. He struck out the No. 2 through 4 hitters in the Mets’ batting order, all on different pitches.

The two-way phenom only had one job to worry about Wednesday.

For the first time since 2021, he was not also in the lineup as a hitter while pitching.

“If it weren’t for the hit by pitch [Monday], he would’ve been DHing and pitching tonight,” Roberts said before the game.

Ohtani was hit in the back of his right shoulder by a 94-mph sinker on Monday. Though that didn’t prevent him from serving as the designated hitter the first two games of the series, the Dodgers wanted to lighten the load Wednesday.

“Just feeling what gives him the best chance to stay loose during the outing, feel good,” Roberts said. “There’s still some soreness in there. When he’s hitting, there’s a component that he’s in the cage getting ready to hit, and if we can take that off his plate and just focus on one thing tonight, we felt — training staff, pitching coaches, myself — we just felt it was the best thing for him. So, once I told him, he completely understood.”

Dalton Rushing rounds the bases after an eighth inning grand slam.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

When asked what Ohtani’s initial reaction had been, Roberts widened his eyes in an impressively accurate impression of one of Ohtani’s patented facial expressions.

“I was a little bit surprised,” Ohtani said after the game. “But it made sense hearing what he had to say.”

The next time Ohtani takes the mound, he is expected to also hit. But Roberts didn’t rule out again having Ohtani just pitch if a similar situation arises again.

“It’s something I’m going to keep an eye on if it makes sense, but not just kind of do it proactively,” Roberts said. “It’s something that’s … got to make sense to not have your best hitter not in the lineup.”

To account for Ohtani’s absence in the batting order Wednesday, Kyle Tucker moved up from No. 2 to leadoff, and Dalton Rushing served as the DH.

The Dodgers scored all eight runs via the long ball: a two-run shot from Hyeseong Kim, his first home run of the season, a solo blast from Teoscar Hernández, Rushing’s first career grand slam, and a solo homer from Tucker.

“We had a really good DH hit today,” Ohtani said of Rushing, who also hit a double.

Dodgers closer Edwin Díaz was available Wednesday, for the first time since Friday. But the Dodgers’ five-run eighth inning eliminated the save situation. Instead, right-hander Kyle Hurt made his first major-league appearance since 2024. He gave up a run and had three strikeouts.

Jackie Robinson Day

The Dodgers’ celebration of Jackie Robinson Day began with the annual reflection at the Jackie Robinson statue, with both teams in attendance. Speakers included Robinson’s granddaughters Sonya Pankey Robinson and Ayo Robinson, Roberts, and Bob Kendrick, the president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

“We make the rather bold assertion that Jackie’s breaking of the color barrier wasn’t just a part of the Civil Rights movement,” Kendrick said in his speech, “it was the beginning of the Civil Rights movement.”

He broke down the timeline: Robinson debuted with the Dodgers in 1947, years before the Supreme Court ruled on Brown vs. the Board of Education (1954) or Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Ala. (1955). The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was still a student at Morehouse College.

“If you don’t believe that one individual can indeed invoke change, you have to look no further than right here,” Kendrick said, pointing to the statue of Robinson. “Because what he did was incredibly difficult, under some of the most harsh circumstances you could ever imagine.”