SAN FRANCISCO -- For the first time in the regular season since Aug. 23 of last year, Shohei Ohtani failed to reach base.
Back to his full two-way duties, Ohtani shined across six scoreless innings on the mound, but he snapped his 53-game on-base streak when he went 0-for-4 at the plate in Wednesday night's 3-0 loss to the Giants at Oracle Park.
Ohtani's streak came to an end tied with Shawn Green in 2000 for the longest by a Dodger since the team moved to L.A. in 1958, trailing only Duke Snider (58 games in 1954) for the longest by a Dodger in the Modern Era.
"I’m focused, as a leadoff hitter, to get on base," Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. "As long as I feel good overall, then the result will follow. That hasn’t been the case."
Ohtani typically sets the tone atop the Dodgers' lineup, and on the first night an opposing team kept him off base all season, his team's offense went dormant. L.A. was shut out for the first time in its 24th game of the season, mustering just four hits off the Giants.
The night before, the Dodgers had only three hits in a 3-1 loss. They have dropped four of their last five games and must salvage Thursday's series finale in San Francisco to avoid being swept for the first time this season.
Less than a month into the 2026 campaign, the Dodgers are not overly concerned about the recent lapse in offense. At 16-8, they are a half-game behind the Braves for the best record in the Majors, and their +52 run differential also ranks second. But manager Dave Roberts would like to see his players take better situational at-bats than they have in their first two games at Oracle Park.
"I thought each of the nights there were a couple of pivotal at-bats that I think could have pushed a run across, and we didn't come through situationally," Roberts said. "That certainly impacted the outcome of both these games. Up to this point, I think we've been pretty good situationally, but these last two, when you're not hitting homers and you're not scoring a bunch of runs, you have to be good situationally."
On Tuesday, the Dodgers had plenty of opportunities against Giants starter Landen Roupp, who walked five batters, including four in the fourth inning alone -- but escaped with only one run allowed after getting Alex Call to ground into an inning-ending double play. On Wednesday, Tyler Mahle outdueled Ohtani with seven scoreless innings.
"We know we're a good offense," catcher Will Smith said. "We're gonna have nights like that. Just happened to be two nights in a row. We'll be back out there tomorrow and try and put some runs on the board."
At times, the Giants have pitched very well. But the Dodgers have also failed to cash in on the opportunities they've had.
"It’s a bit of both," Ohtani said. "They’ve executed well the past two games. At the same time, and this is including myself, I could have been a little more creative. In the at-bats we are going through, we should be able to score."
Ohtani has had a relatively slow start at the plate, hitting .258 with an .854 OPS through 24 games. His performance should not make or break the Dodgers' lineup as a whole, but it doesn't help when both he and two-hole hitter Kyle Tucker -- who's hitting .233 with a .676 OPS -- are slumping at the top of the order.
“For them to be productive, it makes it easier, and more helpful in creating stress and building innings and things like that," Roberts said. "Shohei is still getting on base at close to a .400 clip. But yeah, obviously with Shohei, we always expect more from Shohei. Just one of those things these last couple nights, we haven’t really swung the bats well. We haven’t.”