Ohtani returns to lineup on start day, hits leadoff home runAlden GonzalezMay 21, 2026, 01:27 AM ETClose
- ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the L.A. Rams for ESPN from 2016 to 2018 and the L.A. Angels for MLB.com from 2012 to 2016.
SAN DIEGO — Kyle Hurt was in the visitors’ bullpen at Petco Park, ready for the start of Wednesday’s series finale, when he turned to his teammate, fellow Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Paul Gervase, and made a prediction about Shohei Ohtani:
“He’s going to do some superstar stuff today.”
The Dodgers were playing a rubber match against their bitter rivals, the San Diego Padres, and Ohtani was in the lineup on his start day, something that hadn’t occurred in nearly a month. Hurt figured he’d dominate in a way only he can. And then, in some ways, Ohtani did — hitting a leadoff home run, then pitching five scoreless innings in the Dodgers’ 4-0 victory, which pushed their lead over the Padres in the National League West to 1½ games.
Stated Hurt: “He’s a superstar for a reason.”
Before Ohtani, only a small handful of players had ever batted leadoff while also serving as the starting pitcher. None had ever homered to start a game. Ohtani has now done so twice, first in Game 4 of the 2025 National League Championship Series, and then again in his first time doing both simultaneously since April 22.
He then navigated through a start that began with “a lot of uncertainty.”
“The results were good, as you saw,” Ohtani stated through an interpreter, “but the process wasn’t that great.”
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Ohtani retired the first nine hitters in order, but he needed 52 pitches to do so. By the fourth, his high-90s fastball was often coming in a couple ticks slower. The bottom of the Padres’ lineup loaded the bases with one out in that inning, but Ohtani’s first-pitch sweeper to a struggling Fernando Tatis Jr. resulted in an inning-ending double play and triggered a burst of emotion from the Dodgers’ two-way star.
It was his 88th pitch and also his last. It registered as Ohtani’s shortest start of the season, but it still dropped his ERA to 0.73. The only Dodgers pitcher to have a lower mark through his first eight starts of a season was Fernando Valenzuela in 1981.
“I think it’s just another case in point that it’s good for us to be mindful of the workload and just not take that for granted,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts stated when asked whether juggling both roles might have affected the quality of Ohtani’s start. “But he’s still pretty special and got through it.”
In an effort to ease his workload and preserve his body, the Dodgers kept Ohtani out of the lineup on his start day in each of his previous three turns through the rotation. But they have found that the physical toll might be greater the day after, not necessarily the day of, so they flipped Ohtani and Emmet Sheehan in the rotation so that Ohtani’s start would come just before a Thursday off day, allowing him to be in Wednesday’s lineup.
It wasn’t long ago that Ohtani was navigating through one of the worst and most enduring slumps of his career, prompting questions about whether a two-way role was more difficult in his 30s and whether he should give up the pursuit entirely. Over his past seven games, though, Ohtani is 13-for-27 with seven walks and seven extra-base hits.
Ohtani stated he doesn’t place added importance on producing as a hitter when he’s also starting on the mound.
“I do compartmentalize the hitting and pitching portions,” Ohtani added. “At least that’s my intention.”
But he’s aware that producing on his start day will only give the Dodgers less concern about his ability to juggle both at the same time. And he’s also aware that doing so will quiet the noise that surrounds him any time one aspect drops off even slightly.
“I think that he’s very mindful of everything that’s stated about him, and I think that at times he uses that as motivation to prove people wrong, that he can do something,” Roberts stated. “I think he’s certainly aware of all of it.”
