Fans who went to Dodger Stadium for another Shohei Ohtani bobblehead night got to enjoy the best pitching performance this season from the man himself.
The Los Angeles Dodgers ace got his first win of the season — and of his Dodgers career — and struck out nine Cincinnati Reds batters in a 5-1 victory, completing a three-game series sweep. It was the first time in 11 starts this season he finished the fifth inning, as the Dodgers continue to ramp him up as cautiously as possible.
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It was Ohtani’s first win since Aug. 9, 2023. He allowed his only run on a solo homer from Noelvi Marte in the third inning. On offense, he went 1-for-5 with a run scored, though he finished his night with a ball to the warning track.
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The win pushes the Dodgers’ lead in the NL West to two games after the San Diego Padres’ 4-3 loss to the Seattle Mariners earlier Wednesday.
The performance was a nice bounce back after Ohtani’s two roughest starts of the season. The Dodgers waited to stretch him past four innings until his Aug. 13 start, but he didn’t get that far on a night that saw him allow five hits and four earned runs in a loss to his old Los Angeles Angels team.
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Ohtani’s next start was even worse, with the Colorado Rockies notching nine hits and five earned runs at Coors Field before he left with a thigh issue. It was a discouraging downturn for a pitcher who had, on a per-inning basis, looked as dominant as ever in his first season as a pitcher with the Dodgers. He entered that Angels start with a 2.37 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 19 innings, but took the mound Wednesday with a 4.61 ERA.
Ohtani and the Dodgers responded with an adjustment.
Shohei Ohtani used one pitch very differently in his best start of the season. (Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
(Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Shohei Ohtani did something new with his curveball
Ohtani’s curveball is usually a complementary piece of his arsenal, which has always relied more on his four-seam fastball, splitter and sweeper to keep hitters off balance. He has never thrown the curve more than 8.4% of the time in a season, per Baseball Savant, and had thrown only 11 in 439 pitches this season (2.5%). He didn’t use the pitch at all until Aug. 6.
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Against the Reds, however, Ohtani threw his curveball 23 times in 87 pitches, accounting for 26% of his offerings. That’s not just a season high, it’s…