Shohei Ohtani to pitch and hit vs Padres: What to watch in massive NL West showdown
After experimenting with giving his two-way superstar off days at the plate on days he pitches, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts expects Shohei Ohtani to be back in the lineup for their series finale against the Padres.
Baseball fans at Petco Park will get to experience the full Shohei Ohtani experience on Wednesday night. The Los Angeles Dodgers' two-way superstar is set to pitch and hit on the same day for just the third time this season, manager Dave Roberts told reporters. Roberts has experimented with keeping Ohtani out of the lineup on days he's pitched this season in an effort to ease his workload after starting the year in a prolonged slump at the plate, and the results have been promising.
Ohtani enters Wednesday with a 0. 82 ERA, the lowest in the Majors. And after back-to-back off days in the final two games of the Dodgers' series against the San Francisco Giants last week, his bat has started to trend upwards as well.
In the five games since, Ohtani has gone 10-for-19 with five extra base hits -- including an insane Little League home run against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday -- for eight RBIs with five walks. His OPS has also shot up by over a full percentage point from . 767 to .
872 in that span. Shohei makes it 9-2! Chaos 😂 ©️SportsNetLA pic.