LOS ANGELES -- Shohei Ohtani was out of Tuesday night's Dodgers lineup against the Reds, one night after he returned to action following four days off to manage lingering injuries to his left knee and right biceps.
The Dodgers gave Ohtani an additional day off to "build him up slowly," manager Dave Roberts said. He was available to pinch-hit on Tuesday, and the expectation is that he'll return to the starting lineup for Wednesday's homestand finale.
Roberts said he may look to get Ohtani additional days off down the stretch in the interest of keeping him fresh with the postseason fast approaching.
“I think it’s just more of being proactive," Roberts said. "We have [18] games left, we have some off-days in there. So it’s not premeditated, predetermined, but I can see a couple more off-days in there for him.”
Ohtani went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and a walk on Monday, continuing his offensive struggles of late. Roberts said it looked like Ohtani was working to get his timing back after four days out of action, but most importantly for the Dodgers, they saw nothing alarming from a physical standpoint.
"I think at the end of the day, it’s just him saying that, ‘I feel considerably better than I did,’" Roberts said. "For us, it's not about just tonight."
Ohtani has dealt with health issues since June, including left knee soreness that has been the primary reason that he has not pitched since July 3. A right biceps issue first affected him as a hitter, then went on to affect his pitching ramp-up.
The deterioration of Ohtani's health and performance seemed to coincide with his buildup as a pitcher. Since he began a throwing program on Aug. 8, he is hitting .198 (19-for-96) with a .690 OPS and 34 strikeouts. Ohtani has not thrown since Aug. 28 and is expecting to be shut down for the year.
Overall this season, Ohtani has a .902 OPS with 30 homers. He has been working to get as close to feeling 100 percent as he can despite the lingering injuries, and he believes that his performance should improve going forward.
"I've been training a little bit more, doing just supplementary things to be able to make sure that I'm in a good place," Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton on Monday. "I hope to continue to do that to make sure that I'm up to shape."
At this point in the season, very few players can say that they're at full strength physically. Ohtani's issues came to a head last Wednesday, when he could not hide his discomfort at the plate in an 0-for-4, four-strikeout performance that prompted the Dodgers to take the bat out of his hands.
Ohtani and the Dodgers share the goal of having him at his best in their most meaningful games, whatever it may take. Mixing in some days off for load management is one way to go about it, and the team is hopeful that reducing his workload by taking pitching off his plate will help as well.
"That's the hope, but as long as I'm playing in games, it's not exactly the best way to recover and heal," Ohtani said. "Of course, the best mode of recovery is to completely not play. But right now I just want to make sure that I'm playing, playing well and just focusing on the now."