Shohei Ohtani left Wednesday’s game after taking a line drive off of his leg.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are back at the top of the NL west after sweeping the San Diego Padres over the weekend,but they’ve had their hands full with the lowly Colorado Rockies. On Wednesday, the Rockies defeated the Dodgers 8-3 to win two of the first three games of the series. And this came with Shohei Ohtani on the mound.
But there was reason for Dodgers fans to be concerned for Ohtani, as the two-way star took a 93.7 mph line drive off of his leg in the bottom of the fourth inning. Ohtani did remain in the game a bit longer before getting pulled from the pitching mound. But then, in the eighth inning, Ohtani was pinch-hit for by Alex Call.
This obviously had Dodgers fans concerned if Ohtani is dealing with any serious injury and if he could miss any time.
Dave Roberts confident Shohei Ohtani won’t miss time after taking line drive off thigh
After the game, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he took Ohtani out of the game because he was concerned that his thigh would stiffen up on him. Roberts says he is “pretty confident” that Ohtani should return to the lineup for Friday’s game against the Padres. Ohtani was scheduled to have an off-day on Thursday for their series finale against the Rockies before the injury.
This is good news for the Dodgers and the fanbase. Of course, the fans want to see Ohtani in the lineup on Friday before breathing a sigh of relief.
Ohtani had a rough outing on Wednesday night as his pitching work has been ramped up as of late. In just four innings of work, Ohtani surrendered five earned runs on nine hits and issued just three strikeouts. On the year, Ohtani now has a 4.61 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP through 10 starts (27.1 innings pitched).
Dodgers fans will be waiting until seeing Friday’s lineup drop. If Ohtani isn’t on it, could it be time to panic?
