LOS ANGELES -- On a Shohei Ohtani start day, one of the biggest spectacles comes not when he's on the mound, nor when he's at the plate, but as he's transitioning from one to the other.
When Ohtani finishes an inning on the mound, he has just two minutes to swap his cap for a helmet and his glove for a bat. After changing his equipment, he must switch up his mentality from his game plan on the mound to his approach at the plate. He makes shifting from pitching to hitting and back again look easy, amazing his teammates and coaches -- who know the transition is anything but.
Ohtani's two-way show was on for the first time this season on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium, when he was the winning pitcher in a 4-1 victory over the Guardians. He struck out six hitters across six scoreless innings, issuing three walks, but only allowing one hit.
Dating back to last Aug. 27, Ohtani has not allowed a run in his last 22 2/3 regular-season innings. It is the longest streak of his Major League career and the longest active streak in the Majors. After he came back strong from a second major elbow surgery last year, both Ohtani and the Dodgers believe that he can take another step forward as a pitcher.
"Last year, I felt good. But this year, I do feel a lot more loose and easy pitching overall," Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. "Looking back at today’s outing specifically, that wasn’t necessarily the case. So that’s something I want to work on."
Ohtani reached three times as a hitter, walking twice and picking up a base hit to extend his on-base streak to 36 games dating back to last season, the longest active such streak in MLB. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Ohtani entered the game with easily the longest on-base streak by a player entering a pitching start in the Expansion Era (since 1961). The next-closest player is Rick Rhoden, who had a 14-game streak in 1985.
"I don't know if I'll ever get used to that. It's pretty special," said Max Muncy, who went 2-for-3 with his first homer of the season. "It's really hard to put into words when you see it in person, what he's able to do. Really, my only thought is how good is that guy going to sleep tonight."
Ohtani's command was not crisp all night long, as evidenced by his three free passes, but he nevertheless kept the Guardians off balance while he was on the mound. He retired 11 of his first 13 batters -- issuing walks to Gabriel Arias and Steven Kwan in the third inning -- before giving up his lone hit of the evening, a soft liner off the bat of Rhys Hoskins that fell for a double.
As a light rain fell in the fifth inning, Ohtani's command lapsed again when he hit Angel Martínez, stranding him on first base and going out of his way to apologize in between innings. He walked Kyle Manzardo with two outs in the sixth inning, then had the grounds crew come out to put dry dirt on the mound while he cleaned the mud from his cleats. Once the mound was addressed, Ohtani struck Hoskins out on a sweeper, punctuating his strong pitching debut.
"Obviously in that last inning, the mound started to get to him a little bit," manager Dave Roberts said. "Being able to fix it and kind of get his footing back was good to get through that Hoskins at-bat. But yeah, not a whole lot affects his mind.”
While L.A. bounced back to even the series against Cleveland, the bats have not broken out to their full potential since Opening Day. Ohtani is one of many Dodgers having a slow start, getting on base at a .455 clip but hitting 3-for-15, all singles.
"I’ve been able to get on base, and that’s a good thing," Ohtani said. "But on pitches that I should be making impact, I’m not quite able to do that to the extent that I should be able to. That’s the part that I’m not quite happy about."
Just as the Dodgers are not concerned about their offensive production in a small sample of five games, the team feels no reason to be concerned about its two-way superstar's performance. And even when he's hitting well, Ohtani is rarely satisfied.
"I think for him," Roberts said, "there’s always going to be something that he can improve on or get better at. And that’s what fuels him."