The talents of Shohei Ohtani are not boundless. Cut him, he bleeds. Put too much torque on his elbow ligament, it breaks. Hyperextend the labrum of his left shoulder, it tears. Ask him to be the best pitcher in the National League, with command of his seven pitches like never before, his hitting suffers.
So it was that Dodgers manager Dave Roberts saw a boundary line Monday night in Houston after Ohtani extended his hitless streak to 17 at-bats while grounding out twice to third base, something that he had done in a game only three times in his career, never since 2022. Roberts read Ohtani’s body language and decided Ohtani would get another start last night as a pitcher only, his third such lighter lift in his past four trips to the mound.
