LOS ANGELES — Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani will skip a start and will not participate in next week’s MLB All-Star Game in Philadelphia because of continued irritation in his left knee.
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The Dodgers made the announcement on Friday afternoon before his scheduled pitching start against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night. The team said Ohtani will continue to start at designated hitter throughout the weekend but will vacate that spot for the All-Star Game on Tuesday. Ohtani was the leading vote-getter in fan balloting for the All-Star Game.
Ohtani will have fluid drained from the knee and likely receive a pain-killing injection as well during the All-Star break. His availability for the first series after the break (which begins July 17 at Yankee Stadium) is uncertain at this point.
Ohtani first revealed he was dealing with discomfort in his left knee following a June 10 start in Pittsburgh. He missed one game at DH as well. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has said since then that Ohtani is “not 100 percent” because of the knee and the team was trying to “manage” it.
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Ohtani’s scheduled start last week was also pushed back after he experienced tightness in his right biceps during his July 3 start against the San Diego Padres. He was given the next day off as DH but returned to the lineup and hit home runs in back-to-back games against the Colorado Rockies (reaching 300 for his MLB career). Roberts said during this week that he had heard “not a word” about the biceps being a problem since last weekend.
Ohtani is batting .290 with 20 home runs and 56 RBIs and is 8-2 on the mound with a 1.79 ERA and 95 strikeouts in 85⅔ innings.
Right-handed reliever Kyle Hurt will start a “bullpen game” for the Dodgers on Friday.
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More to come on this story.