Ohtani absorbs hard liner, loss as Dodgers flogged by Rockies

Starting pitcher struck on right leg by batted ball, but 'avoided the worst-case scenario.'

- BY KEVIN BAXTER

DAVID ZALUBOWSKI Associated Press

SHOHEI OHTANI, right, is tended to by a trainer, center, and an interpreter after the starting pitcher took an RBI single by the Rockies' Orlando Arcia off his right leg in the Dodgers' 8-3 loss in Denver on Wednesday.

The Dodgers lost a game Wednesday. But it could have been worse.

They could have lost Shohei Ohtani.

The final score was 8-3 in favor of the Colorado Rockies, although the game was far more one-sided than that. And the result, combined with San Diego's win over the Giants, cut the Dodgers' lead in the National League West to just a game.

Yet the word the team used most often to describe the night was "lucky" because two hours after Ohtani took a line drive off his right leg, the reigning National League MVP said he had dodged serious injury when the ball missed his knee and struck him in the thigh.

"I think we avoided the worst-case scenario," he said through an interpreter. "So I'm going to focus on the treatment."

"It was in the thigh, fortunately, and not off the knee," added manager Dave Roberts. "But it got him square. We'll see how it comes out. But I'm hopeful, confident."