SAN DIEGO -- Shohei Ohtani's expression gave no indication of any emotions that may have been going through his head after his first swing of the game resulted in his first run of support before he even took the mound. But after inducing an inning-ending double play with his final pitch, there was no mistaking the pure elation radiating from the superstar.
"It’s just the probability of winning the game," Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. "Going deep in games, going six, seven innings, you know that the probability does go up. Hitting a homer is really contextual. In that moment [with the double play], as a pitcher, you know when it’s a crucial moment."
After solely serving as a pitcher in his previous three starts, Ohtani was back in two-way mode as the Dodgers took two of three from the Padres with Wednesday night's 4-0 win at Petco Park. He led off the contest with a home run before tossing five scoreless innings, lowering his ERA to 0.73, the lowest mark among Major Leaguers who have pitched at least 25 innings.
This marks the seventh time Ohtani has homered in a scoreless start, including the postseason, which breaks a tie with Bob Gibson for the most such games since at least 1900. While he was glad to be contributing on both sides of the ball once more, Ohtani admitted to experiencing some uncertainty before his outing began because his feel for his stuff wasn't where he wanted it to be.
But he still got results, down to that big double play.
"We wanted this series, they wanted this series, and it was a big spot," manager Dave Roberts said. "It was probably going to be his last hitter. He was starting to kind of grind a little bit more in that inning, and I wasn't going to push him much past that."
Ohtani took Padres starter Randy Vásquez deep on the first pitch of the game, a four-seamer that clipped the top of the zone. Center fielder Jackson Merrill tracked the drive to the warning track and leapt at the wall in right-center, but that ball was not coming back.
The game-opening blast was the second leadoff home run by a pitcher in Major League history. The first was also hit by Ohtani, in his masterful two-way performance in Game 4 of last year's NL Championship Series.
It was Ohtani's eighth homer of the season, and just his second hit in 14 at-bats in his pitching appearances this season. He has only hit in half of his starts as the Dodgers look to sustain his two-way excellence through a full regular season, and ideally, another deep postseason run.
For the first time this season, Ohtani did not complete six innings as a pitcher. He struck out four, walked two and scattered three hits across five scoreless frames. His 88 pitches were the fewest he's thrown since his first pitching start of the season, but Roberts indicated before the game that Ohtani could be on a bit of a shorter leash given that he was back in the lineup.
Besides, Ohtani's final inning was one of the more stressful situations he's pitched through this season.
Ohtani opened the fifth inning by giving up back-to-back singles, recording one out before walking nine-hole hitter Freddy Fermin to load the bases. That prompted a mound visit from pitching coach Mark Prior. After that, Ohtani needed just one pitch to get out of the jam. Fernando Tatis Jr. swung at a sweeper outside and grounded into a double play to end the inning. As Ohtani strode off the mound, he let out a roar.
In the Live Ball Era (since 1920), Ohtani holds the sixth-lowest ERA by a traditional starting pitcher through the first eight starts of a season. Only Fernando Valenzuela (0.50 in 1981), Mike Norris (0.52 in 1980), Zack Greinke (0.60 in 2009), Al Benton (0.70 in 1954) and Jacob deGrom (0.71 in 2021) had better marks.
One of Ohtani's greatest talents may be his ability to compartmentalize, ensuring that his performance as a hitter doesn't bleed into his performance as a pitcher, and vice versa. After he didn't have to juggle both for three starts, Wednesday was a test. And while he wasn't fully satisfied, he did what he needed to do.
"I really measure myself when I don’t really feel that great and pitching in crucial games," Ohtani said. "This was one of those games."