Ohtani shrinks ERA to 0.38 with 6 scoreless innings in SF

SAN FRANCISCO -- When Shohei Ohtani has taken the mound this season, the Dodgers have been able to depend on him emptying the tank.

Ohtani left everything he had on the mound in his fourth pitching start of the season, striking out seven and scattering five hits without walking a batter across six scoreless innings against the Giants on Wednesday night at Oracle Park, lowering his ERA to a near-pristine 0.38.

Out of the 91 pitches he threw, Ohtani hit triple digits seven times, five of which came in his final two innings.

While Ohtani was a force on the mound, his on-base streak came to an end at 53 games -- tied with Shawn Green for the longest by a Dodger since the team moved to L.A. in 1958 -- when he went 0-for-4 on a night the Dodgers' offense went dormant in a 3-0 loss.

With right-hander Tyler Mahle putting up zeros for seven innings, Ohtani had minimal room for error on Wednesday, and he held the Giants at bay with his latest dominant performance.

Ohtani effectively scattered the few baserunners he allowed, working around the two base hits he gave up in the first inning by striking out three hitters. He followed the opening frame with three perfect innings.

In the sixth inning, the Giants had something going against Ohtani when Matt Chapman singled and Rafael Devers doubled, putting a pair of runners in scoring position with two outs. But Ohtani escaped the jam by striking out Casey Schmitt swinging, throwing three straight sweepers to end the at-bat and walking off the mound clearly fired up.

After Ohtani was done on the mound, left-hander Jack Dreyer surrendered a three-run homer to Patrick Bailey that snapped a scoreless tie in the seventh inning.