Ohtani's bat rests as arm does all the work

Two-way phenom isn't in lineup but pitches six strong innings to dominate the Mets.

- BY MADDIE LEE

DALTON RUSHING, who was the Dodgers' DH on Wednesday, hit an eighth-inning grand slam.

Dodgers right-hander Shohei Ohtani had navigated the New York Mets lineup without much trouble until the fifth inning. But he'd also been holding back a little something.

"I can't go full throttle the whole time," Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton after the Dodgers' 8-2 victory Wednesday. "But considering where the game was at that point, I felt like I just really had to go full throttle and make sure I'm considering the game situation."

The Mets had just scored their first run of the game — ending Ohtani’s streak of innings without an earned run at 32⅔, the longest of his career — and cut the Dodgers’ lead to one.

So he unleashed a 100.2-mph fastball on Tommy Pham and then a 100.3-mph one. Pham foul-tipped both, the last into the glove of catcher Will Smith for a strikeout, and had some choice words with himself on the way back to the dugout.

"He has a little extra gear when he needs it," manager Dave Roberts said of Ohtani. "I'm sure he was frustrated about giving up a run, and then came back and really went after Pham."

That strikeout was one of 10 Ohtani had in a performance that was dominant, regardless of the first mark on his previously spotless ERA.

Holding the Mets to one run through six innings, Ohtani logged double-digit strikeouts in a regular-season start for the first time as a Dodger, matching his effort in Game 4 of last year’s National League Championship Series against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Roberts said he’d been considering pulling Ohtani after the fifth inning started going sideways.