Pitching with a knee issue that Dodgers manager Dave Roberts acknowledged is not “completely behind us,” Ohtani followed up his worst start of the season last week with his worst inning of the season on Wednesday afternoon. He retired just one of the first six batters he faced in the fifth inning and the Tampa Bay Rays scored four times to take the lead.
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But Freddie Freeman answered back with a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth that gave the Dodgers a 5-4 lead and a three-game sweep of their series with the Rays.
The four-run inning matched Ohtani’s season-high for runs allowed in a game – set last week in his start against the Pittsburgh Pirates. It was during that start that Ohtani says his mechanics were out of sync, possibly leading to the left knee inflammation that caused him to miss a game.
Ohtani returned to the lineup on Saturday in Chicago and homered in his first at-bat. He homered again in a 1-0 Dodgers win on Tuesday night, but he wasn’t in the lineup at DH on Wednesday.
He cruised through four shutout innings against the Rays, allowing just two hits.
The Dodgers gave him a two-run lead in the bottom of the fourth when they used ABS challenges to twice turn a called strike into ball four. Those two walks set up Alex Call and Alex Freeland for two-out RBI singles.
Ohtani walked the leadoff hitter in the fifth inning, though, to start his troubles. Hunter Feduccia followed with a double to the center field wall. One run scored on a sacrifice fly, another on a two-strike single by Yandy Diaz.
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It kept going from there. Jonathan Aranda singled and Cedric Mullins beat out an infield single when Ohtani was slow to cover first base on a grounder to Freeman. A run scored on a forceout and another on another two-strike RBI single, this one by Richie Palacios.
Through his first 10 starts this season, Ohtani had not given up more than one run in an inning. Over his past two starts, he has had a three-run and a four-run inning while giving up eight runs in 12⅔ innings. His 0.74 ERA through 10 starts is now 1.47 through 12.
The Dodgers chipped away at the lead in the fifth inning when the first four batters reached base. One run scored when Kyle Tucker drew a bases-loaded walk but that’s all the Dodgers got in the inning when Call struck out, Dalton Rushing popped out to shallow right field and Freeland struck out.
That missed opportunity became tolerable when Andy Pages doubled with one out in the sixth off Rays reliever Kevin Kelly and Freeman got a 92-mph sinker that stayed up. He hit it 407 feet over the wall in center field for a two-run home run.
Edgardo Henriquez and Jack Dreyer passed the one-run lead along to Alex Vesia in the ninth. He walked the leadoff hitter and intentionally walked another batter after the tying run moved into scoring position. A third walk loaded the bases with two outs before Vesia struck out Cedric Mullins to strand them all.
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More to come on this story.