Shohei Ohtani dazzles over six scoreless innings to key Dodgers win

Cold weather? Rainy conditions? And a lineup that provided little run support until late?

For Shohei Ohtani, none of it was a problem Tuesday.

In his official return to full-time two-way duties, the four-time MVP didn’t disappoint.

Ever since his signing in Los Angeles, Ohtani and the Dodgers have been waiting for this moment –– when, now more than two years removed from a second-career Tommy John surgery, he will finally be available to pitch and hit over the course of a full season.

And in a 4-1 win over the Cleveland Guardians, he kicked the campaign off in dominantly promising fashion, spinning six scoreless, one-hit innings on the mound while also reaching base three times as a hitter.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to that,” teammate Max Muncy said. “It’s pretty special. It’s really hard to put into words when you see it in person.”

Last year, the Dodgers (4-1) didn’t get to see this version of Ohtani, even after he returned to pitching midway through the season.

He was still building up slowly. His arsenal was often restricted to two or three pitches. And while he was superb in his 47 total innings, striking out 62 batters with a 2.87 ERA, he didn’t complete six frames in a game until his final outing of the regular season.

This year, he did it right out of the gate, striking out six batters in an 87-pitch gem.

Despite making only two pitching starts this spring while being away from camp for the World Baseball Classic, Ohtani came out firing, retiring his first seven in a row and allowing no hits until the fourth.

He kept the Guardians (3-3) guessing by mixing six different pitches, collecting two strikeouts each with his sweeper, splitter and curveball.

It didn’t matter that most of the game was played amid a continuous drizzle, or that he raced between a wet mound and damp batter’s box as the team’s leadoff hitter.

One start in, he was already stoking Cy Young expectations that had been building during spring training.

“I expect nothing short of almost a Cy Young out of him,” Muncy declared.

“He’s just unflappable,” manager Dave Roberts added. “Not a whole lot kind of affects his mind.”

What it means

That every time Ohtani takes the mound, the Dodgers will be tough to beat.

How often that happens remains somewhat unclear. While Ohtani will make regular turns through the starting rotation, the Dodgers will also look to bank him extra days off between some outings. Anything more than 25 starts or 140-150 innings is likely to be unrealistic.

The Dodgers could ride Ohtani’s arm harder, of course. They could maximize his Cy Young chances by giving him a more traditional starter’s workload.

However, they will be playing the long game with the 31-year-old this year, remaining mindful of his workload and prioritizing his late-season availability.

“First and foremost, he’s shown that he’s team-driven,” Roberts said pregame. “But also there’s some individual things that he certainly wants to achieve, which is a good thing.”

Who’s hot

Many of the Dodgers’ biggest bats have yet to get going. Muncy, however, has been an exception.

The veteran slugger is getting on base like usual, drawing what was already his fourth walk of the season in his first at-bat Tuesday. Then, he went deep for the first time this year with a key solo homer in the sixth, winning a lefty-lefty matchup against Guardians reliever Kolby Allard to double what was only a 1-0 lead.

“He was facing a lefty and just trying to put a good swing on it, and homered,” Roberts said. “So “That’s a good sign.”

Muncy was involved again in the eighth, lining a single as part of a two-run rally that put the game away.

With that, the third baseman is now batting .364 (4-for-11) and has reached safely in eight of his 15 trips to the plate.

“I feel really comfortable up there,” Muncy said. “Some of the stuff we worked on is sticking really well right now, and just got to keep progressing into the season.”

Who’s not

On Tuesday? Quite literally, the newly-named Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium, which was drenched by a steady drizzle of rain from the fourth inning on.

The showers were expected, with the ballpark’s grounds crew towing a rarely-used tarp out of storage in the afternoon in preparation for the rain fall.

And while the cover wasn’t ultimately needed, the playing surface clearly suffered. At the end of Ohtani’s outing in the sixth inning, Roberts walked out of the dugout following a four-pitch walk to request new dirt be applied to the bump.

In the ninth, closer Edwin Díaz also struggled with the conditions. He hit his first batter, walked the next and eventually gave up a run, before settling down to finish the game without further drama.

Up next

The Dodgers will get their first rubber-match contest of the season on Wednesday, trying to take two of three from the Guardians in what will be an early 5:10 p.m. start. Yoshinobu Yamamoto will get the start against right-hander Gavin Williams.

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