Ohtani torrid, bullpen horrid

Roberts pulls two-way star after five no-hit innings, but relievers give up 9 runs in 4 innings against Phillies.

- BY JACK HARRIS

DODGERS two-way star Shohei Ohtani, who pitched the idea of playing in the outfield, may feel like he has to handle everything.

Dave Roberts described it as an easy decision.

If only it hadn’t come with such disastrous consequences.

In the middle of the fifth inning Tuesday night, Shohei Ohtani returned to the Dodgers’ dugout in the midst of his best pitching performance all season. Waiting for him at the top step was Roberts, wanting to ask how he felt after completing five innings for only the second time this year.

With any other pitcher, what happened next would have been simple.

At that point, Ohtani had not given up a hit to the Philadelphia Phillies. He had thrown only 68 pitches. He was flashing the kind of dominance that would have made a no-hitter feel like a real possibility.

Photographs by GINA FERAZZI Los Angeles Times

PHILLIES catcher Rafael Marchán, center, is congratulated after hitting a three-run homer off Blake Treinen in the ninth inning.

With any other pitcher, Roberts would have extended the leash.

Ohtani, however, is not like any other pitcher.

He is a two-way star, coming off a second career Tommy John surgery, who has been managed with kid gloves and bubble wrap in his return to pitching duties this year. He started his comeback by pitching one inning, then two, then so on until he built up to five.

Weeks ago, the team - in consultation with club doctors, Ohtani's agent and the reigning MVP himself-decided to avoid pushing him past the five-inning mark for at least the remainder of the regular season.

His health, on the mound and at the plate, remains the priority.