LOS ANGELES -- For once, Shohei Ohtani could take his time striding off the mound after the top of the first inning. He could return to the dugout at his leisure, not having to do his usual mad dash to the on-deck circle to lead off the Dodgers' half of the frame.
Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium brought an uncommon occurrence for Ohtani, marking the first time since 2021 that he pitched in a game without being in the lineup as a hitter. The Dodgers opted to keep him solely focused on his pitching as he nurses a bruised right shoulder, where he was hit by a pitch on Monday.
If Ohtani's shoulder was bothering him at all in his third pitching start of the season, he didn't show it.
Ohtani's streak of not allowing an earned run came to an end after 32 2/3 innings, but he struck out a season-high 10 hitters across six innings of one-run ball in an 8-2 win that sealed a three-game sweep of the Mets. He threw a tick harder than he had all season, hitting triple digits four times.
Ohtani breezed through his first four innings, only allowing one baserunner when MJ Melendez doubled with one out in the third. Ohtani’s stuff looked to drop off a tad in the fifth, when he bookended a fielder's choice with walks to put two on with one out.
That brought Melendez up, who again was the only Met to make solid contact against Ohtani with a ground-rule double that brought one run home. After that, Ohtani bore down: He hit 100.2 and 100.3 mph while striking out Tommy Pham on a foul tip, then dialed up 100.1 mph and 100.4 mph to get Francisco Lindor to line out.
If Ohtani had looked a little fatigued in the fifth inning, he showed no sign of it in the sixth, sending Luis Robert Jr., Brett Baty and Bo Bichette down swinging in succession to become the first Dodgers starter to strike out double-digit batters this season. While Ohtani's 100.4 mph pitch to Lindor was his hardest pitch of the season, the 71.5 mph slow curve he used to punch out Baty was the third-slowest strikeout pitch of his career.