A week after Shohei Ohtani sent a scare throughout Los Angeles when he departed early from his latest pitching performance, the right-hander will return to the mound on Wednesday afternoon in the Dodgers’ series finale against the visiting St. Louis Cardinals.
The Dodgers’ two-way star was supposed to pitch four innings in his seventh start of the season last Wednesday but departed at three-plus while spraying pitches to the backstop. He remained in the game against Cincinnati as the designated hitter and later was diagnosed with a cramp in his hip on a muggy evening.
Ohtani wound up surrendering two runs and five hits in the outing. He walked two and struck out four in Los Angeles’ 5-2 loss.
Again, the Dodgers are planning to have Ohtani (0-0, 2.40 ERA) go four innings on Wednesday as the club slowly ramps him up into full starter status following Tommy John revision surgery in 2023.
In his lone start against the Cardinals in 2023, Ohtani gave up four runs on five hits — including two home runs — but he also struck out 13.
The return to two-way duty appeared to be taking a bit of a toll at the outset, with Ohtani batting .231 since the start of July. But he does have nine home runs in that time with an .846 OPS. A leadoff double Tuesday gave him hits in five consecutive games.
It was the start to one of the better team performances in weeks as the Dodgers’ offense had 17 hits in a 12-6 victory over the Cardinals. Max Muncy and Teoscar Hernandez each had two home runs and four RBIs, and the duo combined for seven hits.
Muncy’s performance came one day after he returned from a month away because of a knee injury.
“Yeah, I was getting to the pitches at the top of the zone,” Muncy said. “You guys have heard me say this before, as long as I’m doing that, I feel like my swing is in a really good spot. The pitches I was able to hit tonight, I felt really good about.”
The Dodgers’ Mookie Betts even ended an 0-for-22 dry spell with three hits.
“It’s good to get the results, but it’s one game,” Betts said. “Every time we talk about this, I go 0-for-20 after. So we’ll see about tomorrow.”
The Cardinals will turn Wednesday to left-hander Matthew Liberatore (6-9, 3.96 ERA), who has given up two earned runs or fewer in six of his last seven starts. He gave up just one earned run Friday against the San Diego Padres but four total runs in a 4-1 defeat.
Wednesday’s game will mark his first career start against Los Angeles. In six relief appearances against the Dodgers, he has a 7.27 ERA without a decision.
Nolan Gorman hit his 10th home run of the season Tuesday and the first since being recalled Friday after Nolan Arenado went on the 10-day injured list. Willson Contreras hit his 16th homer of the season.
Cardinals left-hander JoJo Romero earned his sixth career save in Friday’s victory, and the Los Angeles-area native will hope for another chance to contribute Wednesday.
“Immediately coming back here, I’m flooded with emotions of growing up,” Romero said, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “As kids, we’re in the backyard and we’re simulating it … ninth inning. And being able to close a game at Dodger Stadium, it brought back a lot of nostalgia.”