Amid absolute pandemonium at Dodger Stadium on Friday night, an unexpected cause for concern arose in the home dugout.
Shortly after completing a six-inning, three-run start as a pitcher against the San Diego Padres, Shohei Ohtani was removed from the game as a hitter in the bottom of the seventh, when Miguel Rojas pinch-hit for him shortly after a go-ahead grand slam from Teoscar Hernández in the Dodgers’ come-from-behind 4-3 win.
The reason for Ohtani’s removal: Tightness in his right bicep he had felt during his final at-bat as a hitter in the game.
“Just kinda tightened up on him,” manager Dave Roberts said.
On the bright side, both Ohtani and Roberts described the superstar’s exit as a “precautionary” decision, and downplayed the potential severity of the injury.
However, Roberts said Ohtani would still be out of the lineup on Saturday, to “give him a day to fully reover, treat it up,”
“At that point in time,” he added, “we’ll just go from there.”
Ohtani did not outwardly appear to be laboring physically in his two-way performance Friday, even as he grinded through an 110-pitch effort –– which included nine strikeouts, but also nine baserunners allowed (seven hits, two walks), to leave him with a 1.79 ERA on the season and a mediocre 4.38 ERA over his last four starts.
However, during his final at-bat in the bottom of the sixth, he said in Japanese that there “was something that concerned me a little with my biceps” after lifting a flyout to right field.
Ohtani also revealed that he had dealt with similar discomfort in practice earlier this season, but noted “it got better relatively quickly then, so I think that will be the case again this time.”
“You know what, [that instance] was so benign, that I didn’t hear about it until tonight,” Roberts added when asked about Ohtani’s previous bicep issue. “It didn’t take him out of playing.”
Ohtani’s absence didn’t put a damper on the Dodgers’ comeback Friday, when they overcame a 3-0 deficit in the bottom of the seventh.
After six dominant innings from Padres ace Michael King to start the night, the Dodgers finally knocked him out of the game on a leadoff walk from Mookie Betts and single from Max Muncy. Then, they got a fortitous break to load the bases against reliever Adrian Morejon, with Kyle Tucker’s would-be double-play grounder getting booted by Jake Cronenworth at second base.
Just like that, Hernández stepped up representing the go-ahead run.
And on the first pitch he saw –– a hanging slider over the plate –– the veteran slugger blasted a grand slam that unleashed perhaps the loudest reaction from the crowd all season.
Hernández chucked his bat with an emphatic flip, then rounded the bases as Chavez Ravine shook in celebration, helping the Dodgers –– even without Ohtani at the end –– extend their division lead over the Padres to 14 games.
