BALTIMORE (AP) — Shohei Ohtani tossed 3 2/3 shutout innings Friday night in a surprise start for the Los Angeles Dodgers against Baltimore after teammate Tyler Glasnow was scratched due to back stiffness.
Ohtani threw 70 pitches, 44 for strikes, and reached 101.5 mph with his four-seam fastball against Orioles third baseman Emmanuel Rivera. The 31-year-old right-hander allowed three hits and a walk while striking out five in the opener of a three-game series.
Left-hander Anthony Banda replaced Ohtani in the fourth with Ryan Mountcastle at third base. Banda walked Dylan Beavers but then retired Samuel Basallo on a grounder to end the inning.
Ohtani was scratched from his previous turn Wednesday due to a cough, and manager Dave Roberts projected the five-time All-Star would pitch fewer than five innings Friday.
The two-way superstar threw five innings of two-hit ball his last time out on Aug. 27, allowing one run with nine strikeouts for his first win of the season in a 5-1 decision over the Cincinnati Reds.
“Given the circumstances, could be a little bit shorter (outing),” Roberts said. “He was excited about taking the baseball, but it depends on how efficient he is.”
Glasnow felt discomfort late Thursday night when the team plane landed. The back issue cropped up when he arrived at the ballpark and the right-hander is day-to-day, Roberts said.
“I think it’s just more of trusting the player and also knowing that he wants to be out there and feeling like we got ahead of it early,” Roberts said. “It’s not something that we got to a point where he’s hurt. It’s back stiffness. We feel like to not take this start will allow him to be able to start hopefully early next week.”
Ohtani batted leadoff Friday as the designated hitter again and Roberts said the three-time MVP wanted to be a critical piece to ending the club’s three-game slide.
“Shohei, to his credit, wants to pick us up,” Roberts said. “I really admire him for that.”
All-Star catcher Will Smith still has some swelling in his right hand and did not start Friday. Roberts believes Smith will have to play through the bone bruise for the rest of the season.
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