Batters try all sorts to get themselves right when they’re having a bad day at the plate.
Some go and splash some water on their face. Others offer up a prayer.
Shohei Ohtani found a simple solution in his playoff pitching debut on Saturday night: why not just go and strike out nine from the mound?
“It’s really never been done, certainly at this level,” Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of his star player’s two-way performance against the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 1 of their NLDS matchup. “I use the word compartmentalize a lot, this epitomizes compartmentalizing. He’s essentially two people in one game.
“To look at the at-bats he took tonight and how he struggled offensively, to separate that and just be a pitcher … and keep us in the ballgame. I don’t know any other human that can manage those emotions, how do you not take to the mound? We continue to just witness history.”
Ohtani’s nine strikeouts were the third most ever made by a Dodgers pitcher in their career playoff debut. Only Don Newcombe – with 11 in the 1949 World Series – and Tim Belcher – with 10 in the 1988 NLCS – have racked up more.
The Japanese superstar threw 89 pitches across six innings, giving up three runs in the second but recovering by sitting down 15 of the last 17 hitters he faced. Even the Phillies’ biggest hitters like Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper couldn’t muster a hit against Ohtani, who earned the win as the Dodgers prevailed 5-3.
His excellent showing was even more impressive considering how much of an off day he had with the bat.
Historically, Ohtani has misfired with the bat at Philadelphia – going into the game, none of his 250 career homers have come there. That did not change on Saturday as he produced an uncharacteristically shaky performance, going 0-for-4 with a walk and four strikeouts.
But such is Ohtani’s unique status in the game that he made history simply by stepping up to the plate – the 31-year-old is the first player in Major League history to start at least one game as a pitcher and at least one as a non-pitcher in the same postseason.
He also became just the second starting pitcher to bat higher than eighth. Babe Ruth – who was sixth in the lineup for the Boston Red Sox in Game 4 of the World Series in 1918 – was the first.
“I was a little nervous imagining myself out there on the mound. But once I was on the mound and on the field, that went away, and it was really me focusing. I was able to enjoy the atmosphere,” Ohtani told reporters after Saturday’s game.
“The reason why I’m a two-way player is because that’s who I am, it’s what I can do and, at the same time, it’s what the team wants.”
The Dodgers claimed their eighth World Series title last year partly on the back of Ohtani’s historic season at the plate. Keep this up, and he has a shot at pitching Los Angeles to a repeat.
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