SAN FRANCISCO — Once upon a time, Shohei Ohtani wasn’t expected to start pitching this season until after the All-Star break, if not longer.
In hindsight, how much more dire things would be for the Dodgers had they ultimately stuck to that initially conservative plan.
Needing a spark, a jolt or just some shred of momentum Saturday to break a season-long seven-game losing streak, the Dodgers got it from Ohtani, who opened their skid-halting 2-1 win over the San Francisco Giants with the best performance of his return to pitching yet.
Still managing a limited workload as he builds up following a second career Tommy John surgery, Ohtani only pitched three innings — the first time he’d gone even that far in his five pitching starts this season.
And in the box score, it was bulk man Emmet Sheehan who was credited with the win, following Ohtani with 4 ⅓ innings of one-run ball to end the Dodgers’ longest losing streak since September 2017.
But on a day the Dodgers were looking for a tone-setter, and waiting for one of their superstar talents to take the reins, Ohtani delivered another scoreless outing on the mound, giving up one hit and one walk while striking out four.
The first inning was Ohtani’s most impressive. He opened with seven straight fastballs to strike out Mike Yastrzemski (on a 99 mph heater) and Heliot Ramos (on another that blazed in at 99.9 mph). Rafael Devers came up next and waved at a couple sliders, also going down swinging in what was Ohtani’s second consecutive inning (going back to a start against the Houston Astros last week) in which he struck out the side.
The two-way star wobbled ever so briefly in the second, walking Jung Hoo Lee on four pitches with two outs. But, in one of the more impressive developments of his return to pitching over the last month, Ohtani adjusted quickly, executing a perfect sweeper/fastball combination on the inside part of the plate to jam Casey Schmitt for the inning’s third out.
Having thrown only 23 pitches at that point, Ohtani got the green light to pitch into the third inning for the first time this year. The inning started with a pop-out from Dominic Smith. Patrick Bailey froze for a called third strike on a slider. And after Yastrzemski lined a single, Ohtani induced a can of corn to center from Ramos to complete his 36-pitch outing.
In nine total innings this season, Ohtani has yielded just one run, five hits and two walks while striking out 10.
There’s still a ways to go before he’s built up for full-length pitching starts. But every early indicator is that his potential as a starting pitcher remains among the league’s elite.
“Obviously, early on, we were planning on him not pitching with us until [he had] more of a higher buildup, as far as four or five innings,” manager Dave Roberts said. “But his anxiousness to get back on a big-league mound kind of prompted [an earlier return]. And then from that point on, it’s been pretty deliberate.”
“I think it’s also been helpful for Shohei to kind of dip his toe in the water, as far as logging some innings going into the break,” Roberts added, “and having somewhat of a foundation going out through the second half.”
The Dodgers, of course, will remain cautious with Ohtani’s workload (especially if he continues to scuffle at the plate, with his 0-for-4 performance Saturday dropping his batting average to .205 since he began pitching on June 16).
But there’s no denying the outsized influence of his arm, which has given the Dodgers (57-39) a tangible lift.
“It’s getting more normal, which is crazy,” Roberts said before Saturday’s game, having barely gotten over watching Ohtani splash a home run into McCovey’s Cove the night before. “I don’t see Barry Bonds pitching the day after he hit a ball into the ocean. It’s crazy. Yeah, it’s not commonplace. Pretty exciting.”
Saturday’s win wouldn’t have been possible without Sheehan, either, with the 25-year-old right-hander coming off his own Tommy John surgery following Ohtani’s scoreless start with a string of zeroes himself.
After walking two of his first three batters, Sheehan retired the next 12 he faced before the Giants (52-44) finally got to him in the eighth, loading the bases on two singles and a walk to knock him out of the game.
But by then, the Dodgers had already built a 2-0 lead — with both runs scored by Michael Conforto, who led a quiet day from the Dodgers’ lineup with three hits.
And after reliever Alex Vesia came on and limited the damage to only one run, closer Tanner Scott slammed the door in the ninth; securing a much-needed save, and a long-awaited Dodgers win.
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