Shohei Ohtani of Los Angeles Dodgers reacts to an inside pitch during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres, Saturday, May 11, 2024, in San Diego.
10:11 JST, May 13, 2024
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Shohei Ohtani was not in the Dodgers’ starting lineup Sunday against the San Diego Padres because of a tight back that forced him to leave a game Saturday night.
Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said sitting in Ohtani would be a precautionary measure.
Ohtani left after his fourth at-bat in a 5-0 win over the Padres on Saturday night. He went 0 for 3 with a walk and grounded out to the pitcher in his final at bat in the seventh inning. He was replaced in the ninth by pinch-hitter Kiké Hernández.
“His back tightened,” Roberts said Saturday evening. “So it was one of those things where I heard before his fourth at-bat his back tightened up. Because we were 5-0 up, we didn’t want to push it.”
Roberts said Ohtani’s back felt better and added that Ohtani did some activity on Sunday. He had said his concerns were “minimal” after Saturday’s match.
Ohtani, who signed a 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers last December, is one of the best hitters in the Majors this season. The two-time AL MVP leads baseball with an OPS of 1.090 and is hitting .352, which trails only Cleveland’s Steven Kwan (.353). Ohtani also has 11 home runs and 27 RBIs, both stats among the league leaders.
It is only the second time this season that Ohtani was not in the starting lineup for the Dodgers. He was rested for a May 1 game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, a day after striking out three times in a game.
Since that rest day, Ohtani is hitting a scorching .429 with four home runs and eight RBIs in eight games. On Monday, Ohtani was named National League Player of the Week.
He is playing as a design hitter while fully recovering from a second Tommy John surgery.
