After sweeping the Tampa Bay Rays, the Dodgers will enjoy a day and a half off before welcoming the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night.
The Dodgers concluded the sweep on Wednesday, despite starter Shohei Ohtani giving up four runs in the fifth, and leaving the game as a pitcher to return in the sixth as the designated hitter.
Ohtani is perhaps still dealing with his left knee inflammation, but he also had a bleeding blister that opened up on his pitching hand.
“The stuff was good,” Roberts said. “The sweeper
wasn’t as lights out, swing and miss as we’ve seen. He still always finds a way to manage innings and make pitches when he needs to, but yeah, I mean, I think that he was still kind of working through some delivery stuff with the knee.”
For his part, Ohtani had this to say –
“I felt good overall,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. “It’s just really that inning, that fifth inning, that I wasn’t really too pleased. But aside from that, the stuff was good and felt pretty good overall.”
The Dodgers as of now are saying that Ohtani will still make his next start, and that he’ll be in Friday’s lineup. But as well all know things can change between now and then.
Liana Handler of the L.A. Times has more on the results of Wednesday’s game here, as well as two updates on injured players.
Will Smith is unlikely to be reinstated on Friday, even though he is eligible to come off the IL. The team wants to make sure that he is fully healthy before he returns to the lineup.
Teoscar Hernandez is expected to take some live batting practice on Thursday, and could go out on rehab assignment next week.
Ryan Ward is trying to make the most of his time in the big leagues. He was up for a quick two game stint in April when Freddie Freeman was on paternity leave, then came back up to fill in for Teoscar Hernandez, who went on the IL.
Ward spent seven seasons in the minors and is now trying to get used to major league pitchers. He has only 11 hits in the majors, but seven of those have been for extra bases.
“Just having good at-bats over and over,” he said of what he’s learned he needs to do. “Trying not to throw away at-bats or get myself out on pitches or go to places that they want me to go to not places I want to go to zone-wise, pitch selection-wise.”
Bill Plunkett of the OC Register has more on how Ward is acclimating the majors here.
