Shohei Ohtani is sharp but Dodgers fall to Royals

KANSAS CITY, Mo.  — Three batters into his third start of the year on Saturday, Shohei Ohtani showed some brief frustration.

With one out in the first inning — on a day he was trying to pitch into the second for the first time this year — Ohtani gave up a line drive single to Kansas City Royals star Bobby Witt Jr. Then, he walked Maikel Garcia on five pitches in the next at-bat, pulling four straight throws low and to the glove side to put two aboard.

As Ohtani received the ball back from catcher Dalton Rushing, he wore a stoic look, seemingly displeased with his lack of execution.

But he climbed back atop the mound, stared down the plate as Vinnie Pasquantino dug in, and absolutely bullied the Royals’ first baseman with three straight pitches.

A 99.2-mph fastball on the inside corner for strike one.

A 100.2-mph fastball on the inside black for strike two.

And then, a blistering 101.7-mph fastball — the hardest-thrown pitch of Ohtani’s MLB career — that Pasquantino took a helpless hack at, grounding into a tailor-made, inning-ending double-play.

“Overall, I was happy with the fact that I was able to attack the zone,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. “There’s some little things that I still need to work on. But overall, pretty happy.”

Though the Dodgers lost 9-5 to the Royals on Saturday, Ohtani turned in his best pitching performance yet this season. After escaping the first-inning jam, he retired the side in the second. Over 27 pitches, he threw 20 strikes and got three swings-and-misses, including on a 100-mph fastball and late-biting slider to strike out Jac Caglianone in the second.

Even over another small sample size, with Ohtani’s workload still limited as he works his way back from a second career Tommy John surgery, the right-hander flashed the dominant potential of his stuff, able to bully hitters with his triple-digit heat and keep them off balance with a flurry of unhittable off-speed offerings.

And that 101.7-mph fastball was Ohtani’s hardest pitch ever in an MLB game.

“It’s nice to be able to hit that velo and see how my body reacts,” he said.

The only harder pitch Ohtani has thrown since coming to the majors in 2018: A 102-mph heater he fired in the 2023 World Baseball Classic — coincidentally, also against Pasquantino.

Things did not go well for the Dodgers (52-32) after Ohtani left the mound. Bulk man Ben Casparius who was battling an illness while pitching through the muggy Midwestern summer heat, gave up six runs in four innings after replacing Ohtani. He now has a 7.82 ERA in his three outings piggybacking with Ohtani over the last three weeks.

“I haven’t been as sharp and executing what I want to do,” Casparius said. “I don’t think it has anything to do with the [piggyback] situation.”

The Dodgers’ defense didn’t offer much help, either. In the third inning, Teoscar Hernández failed to get to a flare down the right-field line with two outs, extending the inning ahead of a two-run double from Garcia in the next at-bat. Andy Pages also booted a ball in center field during a four-run rally from the Royals (39-44) in the fifth, an inning that was punctuated by a three-run, two-out homer from Pasquantino to center.

“I think that if you look at our outfield construction, we’re not fleet of foot,” Roberts said. “We knew that as we built the roster. And so there’s going to be some cost.”

The Dodgers’ offense, meanwhile, never figured out crafty right-hander Seth Lugo, stranding all nine hitters who reached base against him (four hits and five walks) while striking out eight times.

Even a big day from slumping first baseman Freddie Freeman, who went three for three with two walks and a solo home run in the seventh, couldn’t drag the Dodgers back into the game late, costing them a five-game winning streak and setting up a series rubber match on Sunday.

All of that, however, paled in comparison to the impressiveness of Ohtani’s outing on the mound.

In his four innings so far this year, the 30-year-old has given up just one run and three hits. His fastball has routinely eclipsed 100 mph while his array of breaking stuff has kept opponents off balance.

And though the team remains careful with his buildup — uncertain of when, or if, he will be fully stretched out for normal-length starts — the few innings he has contributed have been promising, quickly erasing any doubts about how his arm would respond from the second reconstructive elbow surgery of his career.

“I felt pretty good about being able to come back and pitch well — especially considering, [compared to] when I first had the surgery, the second time through it was a lot better in terms of recovery,” Ohtani said. “Talking to the doctor, he was very confident that I would be able to come back in full form.”

That much, he has, looking once on Saturday like someone capable of being an impact option on the mound for the second half of the season.

“I do still feel like I have to work on little things on the pitching side in terms of mechanically,” he said. “So in terms of that, it’s still a work in progress.”

But, Roberts countered, ever encouraged by Ohtani’s latest pitching start, “Throwing the baseball the way he did [was] certainly a positive … I thought he was still in control, and it was still good to see triple digits.”

Pitching injury updates

It’ll be a little while longer before the Dodgers get more pitching reinforcements from triple-A Oklahoma City.

On Friday night, Tyler Glasnow gave up five runs on seven hits in his second rehab outing, but more consequentially managed only 2 ⅓ innings, well short of the four-inning goal the Dodgers had targeted for his start. Because of that, Roberts said Glasnow will likely need at least two more rehab starts before returning to the majors. He has been out since April because of a shoulder problem.

Emmet Sheehan’s next start will come in triple A, Roberts said, even after the right-hander pitched six perfect innings with 13 strikeouts earlier this week. Sheehan returned from Tommy John surgery earlier this month with a solid four-inning start for the Dodgers, but was optioned ahead of this road trip to continue building up in Oklahoma City. Sheehan will be a candidate to return to the majors after his next outing, perhaps near the end of the Dodgers’ upcoming homestand.

Back in Los Angeles, Blake Snell (shoulder) and Blake Treinen (forearm) continued their progression of bullpen sessions on Saturday, and are getting closer to throwing live sessions against hitters. Roki Sasaki (shoulder) has also continued to play catch and, according to Roberts, is finally “feeling really good” almost two months into his IL stint.