wednesday morning

PHOENIX — Dodgers infielder Miguel Rojas addressed an erroneous report from earlier in the week with understanding while also making his feelings clear.

On Monday, a senior baseball writer at the Athletic misidentified Rojas as the recipient of an 80-game suspension for the use of a banned substance on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. It was in fact Phillies outfielder Johan Rojas who had tested positive for Boldenone. The writer, Evan Drellich, quickly deleted the post and corrected it.

“I’m not frustrated because of the report, because we are all humans and we make mistakes,” Rojas said Wednesday morning in front of his locker at Camelback Ranch. “I was expecting a little bit more of an apology, not just to me, but the organization. Because it wasn’t just my name, it was pretty clear that it says, ‘Miguel Rojas from the Los Angeles Dodgers.’ And I don’t think anybody in this organization should be kind of freaking out and jumping out of their seats for the six or seven minutes that it happened.”

Rojas saw the correction post as an opportunity to issue that apology.

“It wasn’t just my name, it was the organization that I represent too, and that’s really important to me,” he said. “So that’s the only thing that I’m kind of bothered [by].”

Later on Wednesday, Drellich followed up with another post: “To Miguel Rojas and the Dodgers, I sincerely and publicly apologize. I’ve reached out to Miguel, the Dodgers and Miguel’s agent to say the same. Once again, I’m sorry.”

In the midst of the fallout from the report, Rojas watched Team Venezuela, who he would have represented in the World Baseball Classic if it weren’t for insurance issues, win the tournament with a victory against the United States in Tuesday’s final.

“It was really special to see my kids kind finding joy in that moment that the third strike was called,” he said, noting that his children were born in the United States. “And they felt Venezuelan the same as I did, and every other family in Venezuela.”

Rojas said he’d moved on after the insurance snag.

“When I made my last post, when I came to spring training, I made a decision of being another fan and supporting from any anywhere that I was going to be,” he said. “Because I knew I wasn’t going to be there anymore. So I had to kind of remove myself from the possibility of playing, and now I’m just becoming another Venezuelan pulling for a team that are getting ready and preparing for something like that.”

Phoenix — A sparse crowd braved the heat, which was approaching 100 degrees when Dodgers right-hander Shohei Ohtani walked off the mound at Camelback Ranch. But those who did were treated to a dominant pitching performance from the four-time MVP in his first start of spring training.

They repaid the favor with a standing ovation.

Ohtani limited the San Francisco Giants to one hit and overshot the innings goal manager Dave Roberts laid out Wednesday morning by pitching to one batter in the fifth inning. Ohtani didn’t give up a run in those 4 ⅓ innings, and the only other blemishes on the performance were a pair of walks and a hit batter.

“I was pretty happy with the pitch count today,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. “In terms of the next outing, I do want to be better at executing in two-strike counts. I just didn’t finish off hitters as much as I wanted to.”

Ohtani is scheduled to make a start in the Freeway Series against the Angels before his first start of the season. If the rest of spring training goes smoothly, Roberts said he expects Ohtani to be ready to throw about five innings in his first regular-season start.

At that length, the Dodgers won’t need to designate long relievers to piggyback Ohtani’s starts. But Roberts stressed the importance of still carrying relievers who can throw multiple innings as the starters continue to build up early in the season.

“Once the season starts you’ve got to see how he’s feeling, how his stuff looks, how he’s throwing the baseball,” Roberts said after the Dodgers’ 5-1 win that was stopped after the eighth inning due to the heat.

Most of Ohtani’s build-up has taken place outside of competition, as he balanced playing in the World Baseball Classic for Team Japan as a position player, and addressing pitching on the side. By last week, he’d ramped up to a four-inning live batting practice session against his teammates on the national team in Miami.

“It actually didn’t feel like it was my first spring training outing,” Ohtani said. “I do see this as more of an extension of a live BP situation. So it didn’t feel too bad going into this game.”

Ohtani didn’t hit on Wednesday. With the heat and his unique spring, the team wanted to let him focus on pitching. He’s expected to be the designated hitter in Cactus League play Friday.

“In terms of the hitting, it did help that I played in an atmosphere that was pretty intense and competitive,” Ohtani said. “So the fact that I had to get things going earlier in the offseason maybe was the only thing that really affected my preparation. But I think it helped me more so than it hurt me, as I played through these meaningful games in the World Baseball Classic.”

Ohtani used a wide range of his arsenal Friday, landing an especially effective curveball for a called third strike against Heliot Ramos in the fourth inning.

“Never really surprised with him,” catcher Dalton Rushing said. “Everyone knows what he’s capable of. Everyone knows his main goal when he goes out there. He expects perfection every single time. And I think he was very, very close to it today.”