The Los Angeles Dodgers are tightening Shohei Ohtani’s pitching schedule as the right-hander prepares to take the mound Tuesday night against the visiting Miami Marlins.
The outing means that Ohtani (2-0, 0.38 ERA) will pitch on five days of rest for just the third time in 19 career starts for the Dodgers. He has pitched on at least six days’ rest in each of his four starts this season.
“We talked to Shohei, (and) he feels good about going on Tuesday,” said Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts, who will move right-hander Tyler Glasnow back a day after he threw eight shutout innings last Thursday in a 3-0 victory over San Francisco.
Ohtani is 1-0 with an 0.69 ERA in two career starts against the Marlins but has not pitched against them as a member of the Dodgers.
Ohtani has allowed just one earned run over 24 innings this season. But his increased focus on pitching had come at a cost before a recent offensive surge.
He was batting .240 before collecting three hits in each of his last two games. His RBI double in the ninth inning on Monday set the stage for Kyle Tucker’s game-winning, two-run single as the Dodgers rallied for a 5-4 victory over Miami in the series opener.
Even with his star’s recent success at the plate, Roberts will use Ohtani only as a pitcher on Tuesday. It will be the second time this season Ohtani will pitch and not hit in the same game.
“Hopefully he doesn’t put too much weight into it,” Roberts said about an ongoing debate that Ohtani should focus on a single discipline during his pitching days. “I don’t talk to him too much about it, to be quite honest. But he is well aware of what’s being said about him.”
The Marlins will send right-hander Janson Junk (1-2, 3.67 ERA) to the mound on Tuesday in the middle contest of the three-game series.
Junk is coming off his best outing of the season when he gave up one hit over five scoreless innings in a 4-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday.
Marlins manager Clayton McCullough pulled Junk from the outing after just 56 pitches as the Cardinals were set to go through the lineup for a third time.
“Being a competitor, I’m frustrated, but overall, as a team, where we were, where we are, it’s like, ‘All right, I’m OK with getting a win,'” said Junk, who has never faced the Dodgers.
“At the end of the day, that’s the only thing that’s important to me.”
The Dodgers rallied for the victory on Monday against Marlins right-handed closer Pete Fairbanks, who departed in the ninth inning with numbness in his right hand. He was charged with three runs in one-third of an inning, took the loss, and reportedly is day-to-day because of the issue.
The Marlins activated infielder/outfielder Christopher Morel from the injured list. He did not play in the series opener.
Morel, who signed with Miami as a free agent in the offseason, suffered an oblique injury during batting practice before the opening game of the season.
“I just have to focus on the present, forget what happened,” Morel said through an interpreter. “Past is the past. Just continue helping the team any way we can and just focus on winning games.”
Morel is expected to see most of his playing time at first base, a position he did not play until this spring.
–Field Level Media
