Shohei Ohtani’s swing was a little out in front of a slider delivered by Padres left-hander Robbie Ray. But Ohtani held back his hands long enough to extend them to the pitch and shoot it through the right side of the infield.
It wasn’t flashy. But considering it was his first at-bat in over two weeks, in a tough matchup no less, it was a promising sign.
The good news quickly dried up for the Dodgers after that, as they fell to the Padres 5-1, missing a chance to clinch a first-round bye with a win. But Ohtani’s return was still significant, and the success of his end-of-season tune-up will have playoff implications.
The Dodgers activated Ohtani, who went one-for-four Wednesday, from the 15-day IL before the game and optioned rookie Josue De Paula to Triple-A. De Paula is still under consideration for the National League Division Series roster as a bat of the bench.
“This was the original thought, that once Shohei gets back, we’re going to send him out,” manager Dave Roberts said. “We had a runway to give him, which we gave him and he performed more than admirably. This also, as far as the timing, just gives us an opportunity to potentially have him back for the postseason. He’s a part of the conversation, and he’s earned that, and that’s what I told him last night.”
De Paula joined triple-A Oklahoma City for Game 2 of the PCL Championship on Wednesday. And Ohtani slid into the Dodgers lineup, hitting second in the batting order for the first time this season, with Mookie Betts leading off against the Padres southpaw.
“I know Shohei, Mookie, they’re always on board with whatever I decide to do,” Roberts said. “I think it just makes it tougher to navigate versus left. There’s a Mookie tax [to get to Ohtani]. If you want to get to Freddie [Freeman], there’s a Will Smith tax. I like that. And versus a right hander I like kind of flipping those two for the same reasons.”
Ohtani, welcomed back in his first at-bat by a partial standing ovation, walked in his second plate appearance. And with two out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth inning, he appeared to have walked again.
Then Padres catcher Ethan Salas tapped the top of his head to challenge the ball call. And an ABS review showed the fastball had clipped the top of the strike zone. Ohtani fouled off the next two pitches before whiffing on a sinker to end the inning.
That missed opportunity rolled right into a sloppy fifth inning for the Dodgers defense.
Starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto had given up a two-run homer to Manny Machado the previous inning but had otherwise avoided damage.
To open the fifth, he induced Salas to hit the ball on the ground, but it got away from second baseman Tommy Edman as he dove up the middle, for a single.
Yamamoto then got a soft grounder out of Fernando Tatís Jr. But it was too soft, giving Tatís time to reach first before third baseman Max Muncy could get off a throw.
With runners on first and second, Yamamoto had a chance to contribute on defense, fielding Dustin Harris’ comebacker bunt. But Yamamoto’s throw to third sailed wide, allowing a run to score. Machado then made it a 4-1 game with a sacrifice fly.
Ohtani came up to the plate again in the seventh inning and put Dodgers fans on the edge of their seats by sending a long fly ball to straightaway center field. But the cheers died down as it fell shy well short of the 395-foot wall.
The top of the Dodgers order got one last chance to start a rally in the ninth inning, against star closer Mason Miller. Only Will Smith reached base, on a walk, and advanced to third on defensive indifference. Ohtani struck out on a slider.
“[Ohtani] certainly feels way better with the rest,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said before the game. “The biggest thing with five games to go is get him as many at-bats as we can, some rhythm and timing.”
Ohtani could get a day off in that span, Friedman said, but the Dodgers will make those decisions based on how he’s feeling.
“Just getting as many at-bats as he can and that rhythm and timing back before we head into October is going to be really helpful,” Friedman said.
Ohtani was not in rhythm before he landed on the IL. In the last three weeks before the Dodgers finally shelved him, he had a .130 batting average. And he only had two hits in his last seven games (26 at-bats) before the move.
“You end up making subconscious adjustments where you’re protecting yourself,” Friedman said, “and there’s just slight degradation as that’s happening that compounds over time.”
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