LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani’s reliance on his fastball caught up with him recently, making the Los Angeles Dodgers’ two-way superstar intent on changing his pitch mix.
He had given up a combined nine runs and 14 hits in his two previous outings, a pair of Dodgers losses to the Los Angeles Angels, his former team, and the Colorado Rockies.
Making his eleventh start as he returns from elbow surgery two years ago, Ohtani struck out a season-high nine over five innings Wednesday night in a 5-1 victory against the Cincinnati Reds for his first win on the mound with the Dodgers.
“The plan going into this game was to throw more curveballs and splits whatever the lineup,” Ohtani said through an interpreter.
His previous pitching win got here on Aug. 9, 2023, with the Angels against San Francisco.
Against the Reds, Ohtani (1-1) allowed one run and two hits while walking two on a season-high 87 pitches, 53 for strikes. On the plate, he was 1 for five with a run.
“Every little thing was working. He got in a groove,” rookie catcher Dalton Rushing said. “He discovered the curveball in the primary inning and it was working very well for him. It was an enormous pitch.”
As they walked off the sector together after the third inning, Ohtani put his arm around Rushing.
“Shohei’s calling every pitch the primary few innings after which just so happened within the third I called one pitch and from then on out he wanted me to call the sport,” Rushing said. “We sort of trusted one another. We were very comfortable working together.”
As an alternative of counting on fastballs and sweepers as he had earlier this season, Ohtani bedeviled the Reds with off-speed and secondary pitches before going to the fastball his last two innings.
“The wonderful thing about Shohei is he can command, when he’s right, 4 or five pitches,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Today was an entire performance by Shohei.”
Ohtani didn’t pitch last season, his first with the Dodgers, while recovering from elbow surgery in September 2023. The team has fastidiously managed his workload since he returned to the mound.
“The No. 1 goal was to ensure that my fastball and my velocity was where I would like it to be,” Ohtani said. “As we’re progressing through this rehab on the whole, apart from the innings, I just really desired to have the ability to include other pitches.”
For the primary time this season, Ohtani went the minimum five innings to qualify for a win. He’s expected to make his next start next Wednesday at Pittsburgh, again targeting five innings.
“His feel for the sport, his pitches, is actually remarkable,” Roberts said. “The previous couple of starts he was pretty predictable and so he was smart enough to sort of suss that out and get them off the scent.”
Ohtani retired 10 of his final 11 batters, including the last eight.
“He’s got all the pieces,” Reds manager Terry Francona said. “He’s good and he’s really tough on lefties.”
