What Shohei Ohtani's start against Marlins says about how Dodgers are handling his workload 3%
By Maddie Lee7%
4/28/2026, 10:02:54 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 24 faulty reasoning types, including Self-Serving Bias, Post Hoc (False Cause), and Negativity Bias, with Ambiguity (Equivocation) as the most egregious example at 16.4% saturation with 149 hits. Analysis detected 945 faulty-reasoning hits from 911 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 15.5% and a BS Rank of 3% (21,268 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 97.20% of the article peer group.
Right-hander Shohei Ohtani shook his head slightly as he walked off the field, having escaped the fifth inning with just one run yielded, stranding the bases loaded.
He strode through the dugout and straight back into the tunnel, with time to reset before coming back out for the sixth.
That was a luxury he wouldn't have had if he was also hitting in the Dodgers' 2-1 loss to the Marlins on Tuesday.
His usual leadoff spot was coming up third in the bottom half of the inning.
“More times than not, it's been fine,” pitching coach Mark Prior said in a conversation with The Times before the game.
“But there are occasions where those conversations in between with the catcher or the staff doesn't always happen.
By him not hitting, it at least allows us to make sure that we're hopefully, on the same page, and maybe we're seeing things the same way.
“Obviously, one of the best hitters, so you like him in there offensively.
But for the long-term goal of keeping them fresh all year, I think these are smart decisions when we can do it, when it makes sense.”
On Tuesday, the Dodgers (20-10) decided it made sense to have Ohtani just focus on pitching because he was pitching on five days' rest, instead of his usual six or seven.
It was already the second time this season that Ohtani had pitched without hitting.
The first was two weeks ago against the Mets, two days after he was hit in the right shoulder by a pitch.
“Obviously having him do both duties, theory, practice it's great,” manager Dave Roberts said.
“But how sustainable is it without kind of taking a little bit off his plate?
That's the question.
And it's not exact science.”
Taking the night off from hitting may provide immediate advantages.
But it also removes the Dodgers' most dangerous hitter, regardless of a general dip in offensive performance on pitching days, from the lineup.
“The main thing is to do right by Shohei,” Roberts said after the Dodgers' quiet offensive night.
“Even without him in the lineup, we should've won the game.
I feel good about it.
“I'd do the same thing again.”
The point is the larger picture.
“His goal is to make every start,” Roberts said.
“And so with that there has to be some compromise and some openness to kind of read and react.
So far, I think we're doing a nice job, and he's open to that.”
What does Ohtani think about all this?
“I'm going to prepare the best I can with whatever the team expects is best for me and for the team,” he said through interpreter Will Ireton.
“We're only going to find out in the totality if it's a plus or a minus.
I think for players who want to do two-way and want to DH, they should get the option to do DH.
But at the same time it's hard to tell now.
We'll see how it goes at the end of the season.”
Pitching on five days' rest for the first time this season, in order to avoid making Tyler Glasnow pitch on regular rest after he pitched eight shutout innings against the Giants last Thursday, Ohtani wasn't his sharpest on the mound.
But he found a way through six innings, limiting the Marlins to two runs (one earned run), despite five hits and three walks.
“From the bullpen, I didn't exactly feel like my stuff was in line with where I wanted to be,” Ohtani said.
“I feel great physically.
I think it's something to do with my mechanics.”
It was the first time Ohtani has given up multiple runs this season.
He's only given up two earned runs total.
The Marlins' first run Tuesday was courtesy of some sloppiness.
To open the second inning, Ohtani lost control of a sinker that hit Augustín Ramírez in the wrist.
Ramírez then stole second, and Ohtani's throw sailed wide, allowing him to get to third.
Ramírez later scored on a sacrifice fly.
In the fifth, a leadoff walk came back to haunt Ohtani.
A sacrifice bunt and single later, the Marlins doubled their lead.
And he gave up another single and a walk before ending the inning with a strikeout, one of nine he recorded Tuesday.
“I just really didn't enter into the fifth executing,” Ohtani said.
He struck out three of the four batters he faced in the sixth.
“For him to still find a way to navigate six innings and then give up two runs, we should win the game,” Roberts said.
The Dodgers managed seven hits, three by catcher Will Smith.
But two of the team's hits were misplays by Marlins shortstop Otto Lopez to his backhand side.
After loading the bases in the first inning, the Dodgers didn't get a runner into scoring position again until the eighth inning.
Alex Freeland started the rally with a single.
And after Dalton Rushing — serving as the designated hitter in place of Ohtani — grounded into a fielder's choice, Freddie Freeman and Smith sent back-to-back line-drive hits into right field to push across the Dodgers' only run of the game.
“If you're not going to put up crooked numbers and clicking on all cylinders, you've got to be good situationally,” Roberts said.
“And we were not good at all tonight situationally.”
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