ATLANTA — It was a tough Sale that led to a tough decision.
The Dodgers dropped a slumping Shohei Ohtani in the lineup for Game 3 of their National League Division Series. Ohtani was fifth in the Dodgers’ batting order on Tuesday night. It is the first time with the Dodgers that he has not batted first or second in their lineup and the lowest he has hit in a lineup since 2020 with the Angels.
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“This is really specific to Sale,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, referring to the Atlanta Braves’ Game 3 starter, Chis Sale. “The guys that I think that they want to run out there tonight and Shohei’s history versus Chris.”
The Braves will be starting right-hander Tyler Mahle in Game 4, but Roberts would not say if Ohtani will be back in the leadoff (as he has been against right-handed starters since returning from the injured list and platooning at leadoff with Mookie Betts)
“Not necessarily,” Roberts said. “Mahle is certainly a neutral, you could argue a reverse (splits versus right- and left-handed batters). So I don’t know that answer. Yes, he does throw with his right hand, but I haven’t made that decision quite yet.
“I don’t see him hitting in the five tomorrow, I know that, regardless.”
Ohtani returned from the IL to go 5 for 21 in the final five games of the regular season and managed just one single in each of the first two NLDS games. More troubling, he has not hit a home run since Aug. 18 (94 plate appearances ago) and has just one extra-base hit (a double) in his past 62 plate appearances.
Since that home run in Colorado, Ohtani has gone 13 for 78 (.167) through Game 2 of the NLDS.
But it has been hard to evaluate how much of Ohtani’s struggles recently are due to physical issues. He has chased far too many pitches out of the strike zone, seeming overeager to re-assert himself.
“I had a good conversation with him last night (about dropping him in the lineup), told him my thoughts,” Roberts said. “He completely understood and said – in all honesty, he said I was going to come to you in September and say, ‘Why don’t you hit me seventh?’
“He’s a very good self-evaluator, a very extremely high competitor and expects a lot from himself. I still think he’s very confident. But Sale’s a different monster. He’s tough certainly against lefties.”
Ohtani wasn’t the only change in the Game 3 lineup against Sale. Max Muncy was on the bench to start the game against the left-handed Sale (as he was in Game 2 against the Braves’ left-handed ‘opener,’ Ray Kerr). In the midst of his own extended slump (8 for his last 65, including 0 for 5 in the NLDS), Tommy Edman was on the bench as well. Kiké Hernandez got his first start of the postseason, Miguel Rojas his second.
Roberts spread out his three left-handed hitters in the lineup – Freddie Freeman second, Ohtani fifth and Kyle Tucker eighth.
“Sale’s gonna be tough,” Roberts said. “But the guys I feel at the top have a good chance to get on base, and I do think that there’s going to be opportunities where the game, the situation, bleeds into Shohei’s at-bat.
“I just feel this gives us the best chance to beat the Braves today and combat Sale, to combat what they’re going to throw after Sale.”
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Roberts said he will know Ohtani is on the right track to break out when he sees him willing to “check down” and make better swing decisions.
“It’s more of Shohei talking to hitting guys and trying to really understand what the Braves are going to do,” he said. “Like I said yesterday, they’re going to expand as much as you’re going to let them.
“It’s just clear that they’re trying to stay away until he kind of shows some more restraint. So I think he understands that it’s more of once you get in the box and how you’re going to be able to control your emotions and check down.”
ROJAS EXITS
Veteran infielder Miguel Rojas left Tuesday’s game with lower back pain.
Rojas injured his back while fielding a ground ball in the fifth inning. He slipped on the edge of the outfield grass and made an off-balance throw on the play. He aggravated it on a swing during the eighth inning and came out of the game.
“It happened on that play and then it got really, really tight. It didn’t get better,” Rojas said. “There wasn’t enough time for me to get treatment (before his next at-bat).
“The at-bat in the eighth right there it was going to be against a lefty and I felt like I was the right guy to take that at-bat and I went to the plate without telling anything to the coaches. Unfortunately, when I took the swing kind of I tweaked it a little more.”
Rojas said he will get treatment for the injury and see how he feels Wednesday. But he was not going to be in the starting lineup against the right-handed Mahle.
GLASNOW START
Right-hander Tyler Glasnow will start Game 4 on Wednesday. It will be his first game action since Sept. 24, but he said he was not told to be ready to pitch out of the bullpen during the first two games of this series.
“No, I kind of mentioned it, but I think they would like me on having my normal starting rotation. I did a sim game on my normal six-day,” Glasnow said of pitching in an intrasquad game on what would have been his start day last week.
“I think just the bullpen’s been doing really well this year. And I think they were just kind of comfortable keeping it as is.”
Glasnow made three relief appearances in the postseason last year, including in Games 6 and 7 of the World Series.
UP NEXT
Game 4 – Dodgers (RHP Tyler Glasnow, 5-2, 3.53 ERA) at Braves (RHP Tyler Mahle, 7-10, 3.99 ERA), Wednesday, 3 p.m. PT, FS1, 570 AM
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