The Dodgers offense let down Shohei Ohtani after another dominant start as he suffered his first loss of the season on Tuesday against the Miami Marlins.
While Ohtani dazzled on the mound over six solid innings, the Dodgers didn’t give him any run support and just narrowly avoided being shutout by scoring their lone run of the game in the bottom of the eighth inning. Ohtani’s bat was desperately missed on Tuesday, as he had six hits over his last two games at the plate and had reached base 10 times over his last three games.
Dave Roberts explained that just because Ohtani was not in the lineup isn’t enough reason as to why the Dodgers couldn’t manufacture runs on Tuesday, per Sonja Chen of MLB.com.
“I don’t think that is going to play in my math. I think the main thing is to do right by Shohei,” Roberts said. “Even without him tonight in the lineup, we should’ve won the game. I feel good about it. I’d do the same thing again.”
As far as whether Shohei Ohtani will continue to remain out of the lineup on start days will vary week to week, but Ohtani is determined to do whatever he and the team feel is best for keeping him healthy throughout the season, per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register.
“I’m going to prepare the best I can with whatever the team expects is best for me and for the team,” Ohtani said through his interpreter. “We’re only going to find out in the totality if it’s a plus or a minus. I think for players who want to do two-way and want to DH, they should get the option to do DH. But at the same time, it’s hard to tell now. We’ll see how it goes at the end of the season.”
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Monday was a feel-good moment for Kyle Tucker, as he delivered his first-walk off hit as a Dodger in their come-from-behind victory on Monday. In what has been an early season slump, Tucker described the walk-off hit as a “huge moment” for him, per Maddie Lee of the Los Angeles Times.
“I was like, ‘OK, sweet, this is sick,’” Tucker said after the Dodgers’ 5-4 victory… “That was a huge moment right there,” Tucker said.
Is it time for Roki Sasaki to move to the bullpen, or should the Dodgers keep him in the rotation? That’s what Huston Mitchell of the Los Angeles Times attempts to solve in the latest edition of Dodgers Dugout.
Read the full article here