Shohei Ohtani is showing his dominance on the mound as October baseball nears. The Los Angeles Dodgers’ two-way star had his third straight scoreless outing on Tuesday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks. His fastball consistently hit the 98-100 mph range, even reaching 101.2 mph. Ohtani gave up five singles and started an athletic double play to end the fifth inning. The 31-year-old is building up his pitch count after elbow surgery kept him off the mound last season. He worked five hitless innings in his previous outing. This was Ohtani’s 100th mound start in the big leagues.
PHOENIX (AP) — Shohei Ohtani is looking like a formidable force on the mound as October baseball approaches.
The Los Angeles Dodgers' two-way star had his third straight scoreless outing on Tuesday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks, throwing a season-high six innings and striking out eight.
The right-hander's fastball was consistently in the 98-100 mph range, hitting 101.2 on one delivery and often overpowering the D-backs hitters. He gave up five hits, all singles. He also started an athletic double play to end the fifth, darting off the mound to field a soft grounder from James McCann and firing to Tommy Edman at second, who threw to first.
The 31-year-old Ohtani has slowly built up his pitch count as he returns from elbow surgery that kept him off the mound for the entire 2024 season. He threw a season-high 91 pitches in his 100th career big league mound start.
The Dodgers led 4-0 in the seventh inning. Ohtani, who has 53 homers this season, batted leadoff and went 0 for 3 with a walk in his first four plate appearances.
Ohtani worked five hitless innings in his last start, on Sept. 16 against the Philadelphia Phillies.
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