LOS ANGELES — As a substitute of blowing out the candles on his birthday cake, Shohei Ohtani blew three nasty breaking pitches by Astros hitters to punctuate a scoreless outing on the mound.
Ohtani tossed two scoreless innings towards the Astros in his fourth begin on the mound this season on Saturday, his thirty first birthday. He threw a season-high 31 pitches (21 strikes).
Ohtani breezed by a 10-pitch first inning, permitting a leadoff single to Isaac Paredes however rapidly erasing him on a double play. He needed to work a little bit more durable to get by the second, however he obtained all three Astros he confronted to go down swinging: Christian Walker whiffed on a slider, whereas Victor Caratini and Yainer Diaz could not maintain off on a pair of sweepers out of the zone.
When Ohtani walked off the mound after his second and ultimate inning, Dodger Stadium organist Dieter Ruehle performed “Completely happy Birthday.”
Ohtani averaged 97.9 mph on his four-seamer — a tick down from his season common — and topped out at 100.9 mph. In six innings pitched this season, he has allowed one run, struck out six and scattered 4 hits and one stroll.
Whereas he is again to beginning video games, Ohtani is actually serving as a multi-inning opener. He’s persevering with to construct his pitch depend on the massive league stage, and the Dodgers have taken issues slowly with their two-way star in his return from a second main surgical procedure on his proper elbow.
