Ohtani Battles Blister, Knee as Dodgers Sweep Rays 5-4
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Shohei Ohtani pitched through a bloodied blister on his right middle finger and residual left knee soreness, allowing four runs on five hits in the fifth inning before closing his outing with a 1-2-3 sixth.
- The Dodgers rallied for a 5-4 victory over Tampa Bay as Ohtani improved to 7-2, completing the franchise's second-ever sweep of the Rays.
- Ohtani's ERA rose to 1.47 — still second-best in the majors among pitchers with at least 50 innings — after he allowed eight runs (seven earned) across his past two starts, a sharp departure from the seven runs (five earned) he surrendered in his first 10 outings.
- Freddie Freeman hit a two-run homer to retake the lead and spare Ohtani a potential loss, the same half-inning Ohtani pinch-hit for DH Miguel Rojas and grounded out on one pitch, costing the Dodgers the DH for the remainder of the game.
- Manager Dave Roberts acknowledged he likely would not have deployed Ohtani as a pinch-hitter if the Dodgers were already ahead, noting Ohtani told him he felt comfortable taking the at-bat.
- Ohtani came in riding a five-homer stretch over his past nine games and was hitting .367 during that span offensively.
Why it matters: Ohtani's 1.47 ERA remains elite, but back-to-back starts allowing multiple earned runs — combined with a bloodied blister and a left knee that already cost him a game last week — raise durability concerns for a Dodgers team leaning on him as both pitcher and hitter heading into October. Roberts burning the DH slot just to get Ohtani a one-pitch at-bat underscores how thin the margin is.
