DETROIT — Shohei Ohtani’s return to pitching in games is on hold indefinitely.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani is “not feeling 100 percent” after his short bullpen session Friday and hasn’t been for some time. Tyler Glasnow will start on Sunday.
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Ohtani won’t pitch Tuesday either — Eric Lauer will start that night — and Roberts couldn’t say whether Ohtani will continue his throwing program. That will be discussed when the team gets back to Los Angeles for the off day Monday.
“I think that just in total, Sho hasn’t come out of it well,” Roberts said. “The arm, the knee. And so if any pitcher was feeling like this, we wouldn’t run him out there. So that’s what we’re doing.”
Ohtani has been dealing with left knee pain since June and received a lubricant injection at the All-Star break. But he also reported after his most recent start July 3 that he had been dealing with a sore biceps for some time. That is still an issue, Roberts said Saturday.
“That’s part of it too,” Roberts said. “It’s everything. Just not 100 percent.”
Roberts wouldn’t offer a guess as to when Ohtani might be ready to pitch in a game now.
“I just don’t think that putting a target or a date is of benefit to anyone,” he said.
Before the game Saturday, however, Roberts said the question of Ohtani pitching again this year is “when” not “if.” That seems cloudier now.
But a more pertinent question might be – why?
Not for the first time, Roberts acknowledged Saturday that the Dodgers need Ohtani as a hitter far more than as a pitcher if they are going to complete their three-peat in October. Tarik Skubal, Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto – and now Glasnow – give the Dodgers a formidable starting rotation even without Ohtani. As the lineup limps through a two-month cold snap, the Dodgers don’t want to think what that lineup would look like without Ohtani.
“Obviously, where we’re at right now with the pitching, the starting pitching certainly being a strength, his value offensively is hugely important, and so we can’t compromise that in any fashion,” Roberts said. “So, if throwing potentially cuts into that, that’s not worth the squeeze.
“(I am) very very bullish on making sure we don’t compromise the hitting.”
It might be too late. Through Saturday’s loss, Ohtani is 5 for his past 35 (.143) with 13 strikeouts over his previous nine games – a slide that roughly coincides with Ohtani’s attempts to increase his pitching workload with bullpens and live batting practice sessions.
“I think 100 percent, for me, as far as an offensive player, that’s very important. As a pitcher, for me, given the strength of our staff, our team, I don’t think that’s as important,” Roberts said. “I think it’s important for us not to compromise his health in any capacity. But for me, it’s just his presence in the batter’s box is hugely important.”
Roberts wasn’t willing to link Ohtani’s current slump at the plate to his increased work as a pitcher.
“I understand the lining up with when he’s starting to really not swing the bat while he’s ramping up,” he said. “It just hasn’t been a whole body of work on the throwing side. Honestly, I just think that for me, I think the pitch selection hasn’t been good.”
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Roberts said Ohtani has not “expressed anything” to him or the training staff about the knee or biceps negatively impacting him at the plate – even though “the last couple weeks haven’t been great with the bat.” Until he does, Roberts said he has no plans to give Ohtani time off from DH.
“If I heard at all that that was affecting his swing – his biceps or knee was bothering him – I would absolutely be open to giving him a day off,” Roberts said. “But I haven’t heard otherwise.”
The media has heard nothing from Ohtani throughout this process. Despite requests by reporters through the Dodgers’ PR staff, he has not made himself available for an interview since August 17 when he had a two-home run game in Colorado.
NEW DIRECTION
Tarik Skubal said he was worried about what might happen Friday night during his first start as a visitor at Comerica Park.
“I was actually joking to AJ (Hinch, Tigers manager) and said, ‘I hope one of the innings I don’t walk the wrong way’ (and into the home dugout),” Skubal said.
Friday was a new experience for Skubal after 77 starts for the home team at Comerica Park.
“When I walked into this clubhouse, I’d never been on that side,” he said of being a visitor. “When I first got here, I was, ‘Which way is the field?’ With all the tunnels and stuff, I was just getting guided around just like any road clubhouse you go to for the first time.
“It’s much farther down there. A lot more steps going down there. But I guess that’s good for your health.”
FULL COUNT
Roberts surprisingly pulled Skubal after six innings and only 83 pitches in his start Friday night. Roberts said it was based on Skubal’s workload in his previous two starts and a desire to keep the postseason in mind.
Skubal threw 109 and 106 in back-to-back starts. They were his first starts this season during which he threw more than 100 pitches.
But Roberts said he has no specific plans to limit Skubal going forward.
“No,” he said. “I think he was 106, 109 back to back. For me, honestly, I kind of arbitrarily, in three starts (increments), like to keep guys around a 100-pitch average. … I’d like to keep him at that 100. But he hasn’t been pushed like this. So for me, I needed a reset. I just felt with the emotions, the last two starts, yesterday was the day. That was my thought.”
UP NEXT
Dodgers (RHP Tyler Glasnow, 3-0, 3.02 ERA) at Tigers (LHP Framber Valdez, 8-9, 4.36 ERA), 10:40 a.m. PT Sunday, SportsNet LA, 570 AM
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