Shohei Ohtani returned to the mound Wednesday for the first time since ending a July 30 start early due to cramps.
All seems well with the MVP favorite.
Ohtani pitched four strong innings against the St. Louis Cardinals. And he hit a two-run home run in the third that gave the Los Angeles Dodgers a 2-1 lead. He did it during a home game in which the Dodgers gave away replicas of his World Series ring.
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Ohtani quickly quelled any concerns over the cramps from his previous start with a strong first inning. Ohtani needed just 10 pitches to get through the Cardinals side. He reached 100 mph on the radar gun with a third-pitch strike to Alec Burleson that ended the inning.
Ohtani pitched another 1-2-3 inning in the second that featured two strikeouts and required just 11 pitches.
The third inning required more work from Ohtani and saw the Cardinals crack the scoreboard first.
Jordan Walker reached on a leadoff infield pop-up that Miguel Rojas lost in the sun. Walker then stole second base and reached third on a groundout. Brendan Donovan sent him home with a savvy two-out bunt that landed for an RBI single and a 1-0 Cardinals lead.
The lead was short-lived.
Alex Call led off the bottom of the third with a double for the Dodgers. Two batters later, Ohtani sent him home with a home run deep into the centerfield stands off of Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore.
The home run was the 39th of the season for Ohtani, which put him one behind NL leader Kyle Schwarber and three behind MLB home run leader Cal Raleigh. It was also the 1,000th hit of Ohtani’s MLB career.
And Ohtani’s day on the mound wasn’t done. He returned for the top of the fourth inning, where he proceeded to strike out the side. Ohtani got each of Burleson, Lars Nootbaar and Masyn Winn out swinging on third-pitch breaking balls to maintain the 2-1 Dodgers lead.
The Dodgers added an insurance run in the bottom of the fourth for a 3-1 lead, and Ohtani did not return to the mound for the fifth inning as reliever Justin Wrobleski took over.
Ohtani finished his day on the mound having pitched four innings while allowing two hits, zero walks and one earned run that was the result of a misplay in the field. He struck out eight and lowered his season-long ERA to 2.37.
Ohtani was not in line for the win due to the abbreviated start that was part of the continued plan to ramp him back up on the mound from his second Tommy John procedure. Otherwise, everything from his performance up to his exit on the mound encapsulated why Ohtani’s a significant favorite to secure his fourth career MVP trophy.
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