Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani was on double duty against the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday, marking his final pitching tune-up along with his last hitting preparation.
Ohtani showed his elite pitching arsenal during his final spring start, racking up five strikeouts during his first two innings of work.
He ended up getting into trouble at the start of the second inning, allowing a hit and then giving a batter a free pass.
The righty threw a fastball, curveball, sinker, splitter, and sweeper, getting whiffs with all five pitches.
Ohtani followed up his pitching work in the first two innings with a 1-2-3 inning in the third, striking out the side with pitches that painted the corners and challenged hitters, to which none of them could respond.
By the end of the third inning, Ohtani had reached eight strikeouts with 55 pitches.
In the fourth inning, Ohtani walked a batter, but got three strikeouts once again, keeping an aggressive Angels line-up guessing.
He racked up a total of 79 pitches through his four innings of work. It was not his most effective outing, but he managed to get his stuff firing and keep honing his pitch mix.
After his pitching success, Ohtani then followed it up with a single at the bottom of the fourth inning.
Manager Dave Roberts let Ohtani pitch at the top of the fifth inning, where he gave up three straight hits, which led to a run scoring.
It took only seven pitches for Ohtani’s outing to go from perfect to a bit blemished, but overall, his stuff was excellent, and his pitches were moving well.
Ohtani’s goals against the Angels
Heading into his start, manager Dave Roberts wanted Ohtani to get a healthy amount of work in.
Roberts wanted Ohtani to go six innings, throwing around 75-80 pitches. If Ohtani ended up being effective in keeping his pitch count low, Roberts mentioned that the seventh inning would be in play, but not the eighth inning.
“When you’re talking about the first game of the season, could he get through six? I mean, could he touch the seventh? Yes, but he won’t touch the eighth inning,” Roberts said.
“So there’s got to be some responsibility as far as how we manage him and then looking out the ensuing days.”
