Shohei Ohtani keys Dodgers win with six scoreless innings

Cold weather? Rainy conditions? And a lineup that provided little run support until late?

For Shohei Ohtani, none of it was a problem Tuesday.

All spring, Ohtani and the Dodgers had been waiting for this moment –– when the two-way star, now more than two years removed from a second-career Tommy John surgery, would officially begin two-way duties on a full-time basis again.

And in a 4-1 win over the Cleveland Guardians, the four-time MVP didn’t disappoint, spinning six scoreless, one-hit innings to kick off what the Dodgers are hoping will be his best season yet with the club.

Last year, the Dodgers (4-1) didn’t get to see this version of Ohtani, even after he returned to pitching midway through the season.

At that point, he was still building up slowly. His arsenal was often restricted to two or three pitches. And while he was dominant in his 47 total innings, striking out 62 batters with a 2.87 ERA, he didn’t complete six frames in a game until his final outing of the regular season.

This year, he did it right out of the gate.

Despite making only two pitching starts this spring while being away from camp for the World Baseball Classic, Ohtani came out firing, retiring his first seven batters and allowing no hits until the fourth.

He kept the Guardians (3-3) guessing by mixing six different pitches. He collected two strikeouts each with his sweeper, splitter and curveball –– throwing the latter a whopping 21 times, second-most in his career.

It didn’t matter that most of the game was played amid a continuous drizzle, or that he raced between a wet mound and damp batter’s box; where he also drew two walks and had a single as the Dodgers’ leadoff hitter.

One start in, he was already stoking the Cy Young expectations that had been building during spring training.

What it means

That every time Ohtani takes the mound, the Dodgers will be tough to beat.

How often that happens remains somewhat unclear. While Ohtani will make regular turns through the starting rotation, the Dodgers will also look to bank him extra days off between some outings. Anything more than 25 starts or 140-150 innings is likely to be unrealistic.

The Dodgers could ride Ohtani’s arm harder, of course. They could maximize his Cy Young chances by giving him a more traditional starter’s workload.

However, they will be playing the long game with the 31-year-old this year, remaining mindful of his workload and prioritizing his late-season availability.

“First and foremost, he’s shown that he’s team-driven,” manager Dave Roberts said pregame. “But also there’s some individual things that he certainly wants to achieve, which is a good thing.”

Who’s hot

Many of the Dodgers’ biggest bats have yet to get going. Max Muncy, however, has been an exception.

The veteran slugger is getting on base like usual, drawing what was already his fourth walk of the season in his first at-bat Tuesday. Then, he went deep for the first time this year with a key insurance blast in the sixth, winning a lefty-lefty matchup against Guardians reliever Kolby Allard to double what was only a one-run lead. 

Muncy was involved again in the eighth, lining a single as part of a two-run rally that put the game away.

With that, the third baseman is now batting .364 (4-for-11) and has reached safely in eight of his 15 trips to the plate.

Who’s not

On Tuesday? Quite literally, the newly-named Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium, which was drenched by a steady drizzle of rain from the fourth inning on.

The showers were expected, with the ballpark’s grounds crew towing a rarely-used tarp out of storage in the afternoon in preparation for the rain fall.

And while the cover wasn’t ultimately needed, constant repairs to the playing surface were –– including at the end of Ohtani’s outing in the sixth inning, when Roberts walked out of the dugout following a four-pitch walk to request new dirt be applied.

After a brief pause, and the scraping of mud from the superstar’s cleats, Ohtani climbed back atop rubber and struck out Rhys Hoskins to finish his night (as a pitcher anyway).

Up next

The Dodgers will get their first rubber-match contest of the season on Wednesday, trying to take two of three from the Guardians in what will be an early 5:10 p.m. start. Yoshinobu Yamamoto will get the start against right-hander Gavin Williams.

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