PHOENIX –– Shohei Ohtani isn’t supposed to be making it look this easy.
Not after a second career Tommy John surgery. Not in his first full two-way season in three years. Not with the eyes of the baseball world watching his every move, wondering exactly how long he can keep this level of dominance up.
And yet, there Ohtani was on Wednesday night at Chase Field, looking every bit the part of “the best player that’s ever walked this earth,” as catcher Will Smith put it.
In a 7-0 rout of the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Dodgers’ unicorn talent continued what has become a magical campaign thus far.
He delivered a scoreless six-inning outing on the mound that lowered his ERA to 0.74 through his first 10 starts –– third-lowest that deep into a season since earned runs first became a stat in 1913.
If that wasn’t enough, he also went 3-for-4 as a hitter while drawing two walks, pushing his batting average back above the .300 mark for the first time since opening day.
“I’m pleased with where I’m at right now,” Ohtani, understated as ever, said through an interpreter.
There’s no debating Ohtani’s status as the game’s preeminent superstar right now.
After Wednesday, the bigger question is whether he’s also baseball’s best current pitcher, as well.
Granted, he doesn’t have –– and will not finish the year with –– as many innings as some of the game’s other top arms. He is still technically below the minimum innings threshold to be considered a qualified pitcher, albeit by only one.
Still, no one is preventing runs as clinically as he is at the moment.
At no point this season has his ERA even reached 1.00.
“I’ve noticed with Shohei, every run is a premium,” manager Dave Roberts said. “He’s literally trying to throw a shutout every time out there.”
He did once again on Wednesday, mowing through the Arizona lineup in a two-hit, one-walk, six-strikeout gem.
The right-hander retired the first 11 batters he faced, extending his hitless streak to 9 ⅔ innings dating back to last week’s six-inning start against the Colorado Rockies. He stranded a double that Dbacks catcher Gabriel Moreno poked down the first-base line with two outs in the fourth, in one of his rare moments of stress all night.
The Dbacks wouldn’t put another runner aboard until the sixth, when Tommy Troy walked and Geraldo Perdomo hit a single. But then, as if dialed up on command, Ohtani got Corbin Carroll to immediately hit into a double-play grounded that ended the inning.
He punctuated his pitching performance with a calm fist pump as he walked off the mound for the final time.
“He just has a really good feel for the game,” Smith said.
All that, and Ohtani also reached base five times (all three of his hits were singles) on a night the Dodgers jumped to an early five-run lead on Kyle Tucker’s two-run blast in the second and run-scoring singles from Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy in the third.
It isn’t supposed to be this easy.
Ohtani is making it look so anyway.
“I don’t throw 100, so I can’t relate or know what he goes through,” Tucker quipped. “But he’s given us everything he has every single time he goes out there, every single day. So he’s done a phenomenal job.”
What it means
The Dodgers (40-22) have won 16 of their last 20 games, and are in position for a sixth-straight series win entering Thursday’s finale of this four-game set.
Unsurprisingly, that run has coincided with Ohtani’s best stretch of the season.
For all he’s done as a pitcher, the four-time MVP has also rediscovered his swing as of late.
With Wednesday’s 3-for-4 performance, he is now hitting .435 over the team’s last 20 games with 16 RBIs, 12 extra-base hits and an OPS of 1.254.
For the season, it has raised his batting average to .301 (ninth-best in the National League) and his OPS to .941 (representing the league’s third-best mark).
“Honestly, I think his at-bats the last three weeks have just been better in total,” Roberts said.
Who’s hot
Ohtani, obviously.
The only real question is whether that’s more true of his bat or his arm.
On the mound, Ohtani has still yet to allow more than two runs in any of his starts this year. Wednesday was the fifth time he didn’t give up any.
Even more encouraging this time was his improved command in an efficient 89-pitch outing, which was only cut short because the score had gotten so out of hand.
After eight combined walks in his three previous pitching starts, he issued only the one free pass on Wednesday.
“Today was definitely a lot better than last time,” he said.
Ohtani still didn’t even seem to be at his absolute best with his arsenal. He leaned mostly on fastballs and sweepers, and only got nine total whiffs.
No matter. With pitch speeds ranging from 100.4 mph all the way down to 68 mph, he kept the Dbacks (32-29) off-balance, out-of-rhythm and unable to do much of anything.
He might have company in the Cy Young race. But he’s already well on his way to another MVP honor.
Who’s not
This category had belonged to Tucker over the past few days.
But after a three-hit showing Wednesday, it no longer applies for now.
Tucker’s home run in the second inning came on what he said was his best swing of the year: A 424-foot blast over the pool in deep right-center with a season-best 107.6 mph exit velocity.
“That’s kind of the swing I’ve been searching for the whole time,” he said. “It’s good to get that off and kind of carry that over for a few at-bats after that.”
Indeed, he lined a single on a low curveball in the third inning, then another on a low slider in the fifth.
It marked Tucker’s fourth three-hit game of the year, and got his average up to .243.
“I just felt he looked much more comfortable tonight,” Roberts said.
Up next
The Dodgers conclude this four-game series on Thursday, when Justin Wrobleski (7-2, 2.87 ERA) faces right-hander Ryne Nelson (2-4, 4.82 ERA).
