Dodgers bullpen can’t help out Shohei Ohtani in loss to Pirates
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PITTSBURGH — For the first time this season, Shohei Ohtani watched his manager walk out of the dugout to pull him mid-inning.
On a humid night at PNC Park, in a 9-8 loss, Ohtani pitched into the seventh inning against the Pirates. But Brandon Lowe’s two-out, two-run double cut the Dodgers’ lead to three.
And as manager Dave Roberts gathered the Dodgers infield around him, Ohtani made the long walk to the dugout, pushing up his cap to wipe the sweat from his brow on the way.
“Just the last couple at-bats, I wish I got some calls my way,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton, after giving up three runs in 6 ⅔ innings Wednesday. “But just didn’t turn out that way. And that’s the part that I wish I could have been able to change a little bit.”
Ohtani’s performance was enough to leave the mound with the lead, which the Dodgers bullpen surrendered. But in a near-flawless season on the mound, it was his worst start of the year.
Ohtani gave up three earned runs for the first time all season, along with a season-high six hits. That took his ERA from 0.74 to 1.06. And though he’s been pitching with a blister on his right middle finger for several consecutive starts, Ohtani said he didn’t think it had an effect on his performance.
On the offensive side, his ninth-inning home run came too late to save the day. It was his third time homering in a game he pitched this season.
Ohtani also came inches away from homering in the third inning. The opposite-field drive sent Pirates left-fielder Bryan Reynolds leaping into the padded wall. As the fans beyond it jumped to their feet with their hands raised, Reynolds reached over and squeezed his glove shut around what would have been the go-ahead home run.
“The left fielder made a fantastic catch,” Ohtani said. “Gotta tip my cap on that one.”
That’s how much of Ohtani’s day went — solid by most standards, but not his.
“I thought he did really well through six innings,” catcher Dalton Rushing said. “They had a plan to try and move the ball forward as soon as possible and avoid striking out. They made it pretty obvious.”
Ohtani famously has another level he can reach in leverage situations. And he demonstrated that ability in the first three innings, though he allowed baserunners in each.
After giving up a single and walking a batter to begin his start, Ohtani struck out Reynolds on a 100.2-mph fastball. And after hitting Reynolds with a sweeper in the third inning, he induced Ryan O’Hearn to line out on a 100.3-mph fastball.
Ohtani successfully navigated traffic, despite a wide throw to second on a comebacker in the second inning, without allowing a run until the fourth.
With two out, Ohtani challenged 25-year-old Tyler Callihan with a first-pitch fastball. Callihan sent it not only over the Clemente wall, but soaring all the way over the right-field stands for his first major-league home run.
It was only the third home run Ohtani has surrendered this season. The other two came in his start in Houston a little over a month ago.
The Dodgers (43-25) responded with a first for rookie Ryan Ward.
The Dodgers had a narrow lead after a two-run rally in the fourth, powered by the heart of the order. But Ward made it more far more comfortable when he stepped up to the plate with two out and the bases loaded in the sixth inning, jumped on a first-pitch sweeper, and recorded the first grand slam of his major league career.
The Dodgers, it turned out, would need more than that wiggle room.
Ohtani’s seventh inning got off to an inauspicious start. He battled Callihan for eight pitches and walked him to lead off the frame.
Then a looping curveball got Jake Mangum to bounce a swinging bunt up the third-base line. But by the time Ohtani got to it, Mangum was almost to first. Ohtani held the throw.
The Dodgers have a big lead in the NL West, so it’s time for some random musing about things this season.
Ohtani buckled down, throwing mostly breaking stuff to Jared Triolo and Spencer Horwitz to strike out both looking.
He fell behind 3-and-0 against Lowe, but two of those balls barely clipped the strike zone. If Ohtani or Rushing had challenged the calls, they would have been overturned by ABS.
“I really got close to doing one,” Ohtani said. “I usually let the catchers make that determination. But looking back, I think situationally, how important it was, that at-bat, looking back, I think I could have done a few challenges.”
But both he and Rushing, who won one challenge and lost one on Wednesday, decided to save their last remaining challenge rather than risk it on a borderline pitch in the seventh inning of a five-run game.
“The score of the game, what part of the game, what time of the game are we at?” Rushing said of the calculation. “Do we need one late in the game? Do we have two? Do we have one to waste? You never want to go into the eighth, ninth inning without a challenge from an offensive side, especially in a close game.”
It’s a split-second decision, parsing a fraction of an inch with the naked eye.
“Dalton’s done a good job with all of our pitchers,” Roberts said. “... It’s not an exact science.”
Hindsight is 20/20.
Lowe stayed aggressive in that 3-and-0 count and ripped a double up the right-field line, trimming the Dodgers’ lead to 6-3.
Reliever Alex Vesia finished the inning for Ohtani, but not before a fielding error by third baseman Max Muncy gave the Pirates another run.
The Dodgers put together a 10-run seventh inning en route to a 12-3 win against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“I still felt we had the game in hand,” Roberts said.
The game unraveled in the eighth. Right-handed reliever Kyle Hurt walked the first two batters he faced and then surrendered a home run to Callihan, who put the Pirates ahead. After Hurt handed over the ball, Horwitz sent Dodgers lefty Jack Dreyer’s second pitch deep for a two-run homer.
So, Ohtani’s two-run shot the next inning wasn’t quite enough to stage a comeback.
“This one stung because I thought we were playing good baseball,” Roberts said. “We have no business losing that game.”
Will Smith update
The Dodgers are set to put catcher Will Smith on the injured list Thursday, as the stiffness in his neck continues to linger. They plan to call up Chuckie Robinson from Triple-A Oklahoma City to serve as the backup catcher.
The Dodgers’ game against the Pirates on Wednesday was the fourth Smith had missed since being scratched from the lineup Saturday with a stiff neck. Teams can backdate IL moves a maximum of three days.
Dalton Rushing is scheduled to catch all three games in Pittsburgh, Roberts said. The Dodgers have already cleared a spot on the 40-man roster, releasing utility man Tyler Fitzgerald on Wednesday. He had a .998 OPS in 24 games with Oklahoma City.
Robinson has played in 52 major-league games over the past three seasons, including one (two plate appearances) for the Dodgers last year. He also logged 60 plate appearances with the Reds in 2022 and 76 with the White Sox, whom the Dodgers play this weekend, in 2024.
