SAN FRANCISCO -- The Dodgers have come to expect another side of Shohei Ohtani whenever their two-way superstar takes the mound.
They were already well-acquainted with their leadoff hitter, who won his third unanimous MVP Award and created the 50-50 club in his first year with L.A., when he was exclusively a hitter while recovering from a second major surgery on his right elbow. But Ohtani's return to pitching has uncovered another layer of his personality.
“He’s a little bit more edgy as a pitcher. And I don’t know how to describe it, really," manager Dave Roberts said. "But as a hitter, it’s just more easy-going, and still competitive. But as a pitcher, there’s a little bit more edge to him.”
That edge was just what the Dodgers needed in Saturday afternoon's 2-1 win over the Giants at Oracle Park, which put an end to their seven-game losing streak that was the team's longest since 2017. Ohtani stretched out to three innings on the mound for the first time as a Dodger, striking out four and working around a walk and a base hit on 36 pitches (25 strikes).
During his tenure with the Dodgers, Ohtani has been a key tone-setter atop the lineup. The same is true when he takes the mound.
"It's kind of the standard, I guess you could say," rookie catcher Dalton Rushing said. "Not to put any more pressure on him as a player, but when he goes out there, that's what we expect of him, and I'm sure that's what he expects of himself."
For much of this year, the Dodgers didn't expect to see Ohtani pitching in a big league game until after the All-Star break. But very little about the two-way superstar's buildup on the mound has been conventional, and he ended up making five starts in the first half, combining to allow one run on five hits in nine innings. He's struck out 10 against two walks.
From the beginning, Ohtani was able to dial up some of his best stuff against the Giants. He struck out the side on 12 pitches in the first inning, hitting 99.9 mph on his fastball. Going back to Ohtani's previous appearance as a pitcher last Saturday against the Astros, he had punched out six straight batters, all swinging.
Ohtani finished the second inning at 23 pitches, working around a two-out, four-pitch walk to Jung Hoo Lee. His efficiency allowed him to pitch into the third inning for the first time this season, where he gave up a two-out single to Mike Yastrzemski but otherwise kept the Giants at bay. He retired nine of the 11 batters he faced.
Since undergoing surgery in September 2023, Ohtani has only pitched against hitters eight times, counting his three live sessions before returning to the mound in June. He's shown a remarkable ability to adjust during his outings given that limited body of work.
"Just reflecting back overall throughout this whole rehab progress, my first outing, I was able to throw pretty hard but without having to throw hard, per se," Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. "That was something that really helped me ease a little bit of the anxiety about going into pitching a real game. So I think that really helped me just stay loose and easy while being able to maintain a pretty good velocity."
Ohtani gave way to Emmet Sheehan, who tossed 4 1/3 innings and held the Giants off the board until the eighth, when he loaded the bases with one out. Alex Vesia took over and gave up a run on a sacrifice fly, but he got out of the inning without further incident. Tanner Scott took care of business in the ninth for his 19th save.
The strong combined effort on the mound made a pair of runs -- which came on a Tommy Edman groundout in the second and a Hyeseong Kim RBI single in the sixth -- hold up to end the Dodgers' skid.
"We got some big hits and won a ballgame," Roberts said. "We’ll all sleep better tonight."
While Ohtani went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts as a hitter, his contribution on the mound still struck the right tone to help the Dodgers get over the hump.
"Throughout the losing streak, we played pretty good games in there, too," Ohtani said. "It's good to finally put a 'W' on the board. I hope that this is the beginning of a bunch of wins to come."