Dodgers beat Yankees, but Shohei Ohtani’s return to pitching remains unclear
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NEW YORK — The Dodgers don’t know when Shohei Ohtani will be on the mound again.
He tentatively was scheduled to start Wednesday against the Philadelphia Phillies, after promising initial reports on his recovery from an injection in his left knee. But after seeing his knee’s response to playing catch, the team decided to give him more time.
“We just want to continue to give it the best chance to kind of get into a good spot,” manager Dave Roberts said before the Dodgers’ 8-2 win over the New York Yankees in Game 1 of a doubleheader on Sunday. “And as he said, as we feel, it’s the pitching and the torque of landing on that leg that kind of gets it upset.”
It was clear enough from catch that Ohtani’s start would have to be pushed back and that he did not feel the need to test it by throwing off a mound, Roberts said.
“Where we’re at right now, how we’re proceeding, I would say that it’s going to be some time,” Roberts said. “It’s not going to be a day-to-day thing.”
Shohei Ohtani was tentatively scheduled to start Wednesday against the Phillies, after promising initial reports on his recovery from an injection in his left knee.
That left a wide range of timeline possibilities, from days to weeks. Roberts did, however, rule out shutting down Ohtani from pitching for the rest of the season.
“I guess anything is possible, but I just don’t think that’s a possibility,” he said.
Hitting, however, does not seem to aggravate Ohtani’s knee. And he made his presence known in the lineup Sunday.
Ohtani drove in the Dodgers’ first run, lining a third-inning double to the warning track in right-center field. He scored on Freddie Freeman’s single to shallow center field.
That sequence played an important role in holding the pressure on Yankees starting pitcher Cam Schlittler, who was pulled with one out in the fifth, with his pitch count at 98.
The Dodgers piled on against the Yankees’ bullpen. And Ohtani contributed an RBI single in their five-run eighth.
When the Dodgers’ rotation needed a boost the most, right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched a complete game, holding the Yankees to four hits and striking out seven to improve to 10-6.
Yamamoto’s gem not only set up the Dodgers for the win but also lightened the load on a bullpen tasked with covering Game 2. They added right-hander Kyle Hurt as the 27th man on the roster to give them another reliever.
Ohtani felt good enough after Game 1, even after fouling a pitch into his left knee in the fifth inning, for Roberts to write him in at designated hitter for Game 2.
To fill Ohtani’s spot in the rotation, the Dodgers moved right-hander Emmet Sheehan’s start to Monday. He was scheduled to start Saturday before the rainout that led to Sunday’s doubleheader. Left-handers Justin Wrobleski and Eric Lauer are set to start the other games against the Phillies.
“Honestly, a lot of it is where we’re at and how we’ve put ourselves in a good spot,” Roberts said of his team, which boasts baseball’s best record. “Could [Ohtani] probably do it? Sure. But right now, the benefits just don’t seem to outweigh the cost at this time of the season. So I think we still have plenty of time to get him to a good spot to then pitch.”
Ohtani (8-2, 1.79 ERA) hasn’t pitched since July 3, skipping his last start before the All-Star break. Ideally, the Dodgers would like to get Ohtani to a spot where he isn’t worrying about managing his knee for the rest of the season.
“That’s why we’re trying to be a little bit more on the proactive side,” Roberts said.
The Dodgers are committed to maintaining a six-to-seven man rotation. But with a day off scheduled in each of the next few weeks, they could do without a sixth starter at least through the end of the month. Then, a spot start or bullpen day could buy them more time.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts doesn’t know if they can count on Will Smith returning this season. If that’s the case, the Dodgers need to trade for a catcher.
Left-hander Blake Snell is also on track to return from the injured list in a few weeks. Before the All-Star break, pitching coach Mark Prior estimated that Snell would need at least four or five minor-league rehab starts before returning. Even with Ohtani’s injury, the Dodgers aren’t expected to rush Snell’s buildup.
Snell (loose bodies in his elbow) threw 1-1/3 innings for triple-A Oklahoma City on Saturday to begin his rehab assignment. All four outs were strikeouts. He’s scheduled to take the mound again Friday, Roberts said, targeting three innings.
The Dodgers’ starting pitching depth has buoyed them through injuries to Snell, Tyler Glasnow (back spasms) and now Ohtani. But it’s running thin.
Top pitching prospect River Ryan, expected to contribute to the team, has battled a hamstring injury in triple A. On the minor-league injured list since late June, he’s throwing off a mound again, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. But he still needs to build up to a starter’s workload.
