06/10/26 10:39:00
Printable Page
06/10 22:37 CDT A 5-run lead slips away as Shohei Ohtani rues a missed ABS
challenge in a 9-8 loss
A 5-run lead slips away as Shohei Ohtani rues a missed ABS challenge in a 9-8
loss
By WILL GRAVES
AP Sports Writer
PITTSBURGH (AP) --- Shohei Ohtani doesn't like to get in the way of his
catchers.
The way the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar looks at it, when he's on the mound,
his job is to throw the ball. It's up to the guys behind the plate to decide
whether to challenge an umpire's call of a ball or a strike.
That deference might have cost Ohtani and the Dodgers in a stunning 9-8 loss to
the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday night.
Los Angeles was cruising when Ohtani went out for the seventh inning for just
the third time this season. The Dodgers led by five thanks to Ryan Ward's first
career grand slam, and Ohtani seemed poised to win his fifth straight start.
Then things unraveled, a rarity for the two-time defending world champions and
the greatest player in the game.
Pirates rookie Tyler Callihan singled. Jake Mangum reached on a swinging bunt.
Still, Ohtani and the blister on his right hand that is temporarily limiting
the number of split-fingered fastballs he throws felt like he was in pretty
good shape when Pittsburgh second baseman Brandon Lowe stepped to the plate.
Ohtani quickly fell behind 3-0, with the first and third pitches borderline
calls on 98 mph fastballs that home plate umpire Felix Neon ruled balls.
Catcher Dalton Rushing didn't challenge, and with just one challenge remaining,
Ohtani decided it probably wasn't worth the risk.
Lowe quickly made Ohtani pay, turning on a fastball down the middle for a
two-run double that ended Ohtani's night (on the mound anyway) and set the
stage for a five-run rally against the Dodger bullpen in the eighth that gave
the Pirates perhaps their most unlikely win of the season.
Ohtani, who allowed season highs in hits (six), runs (four) and earned runs
(three), couldn't help but think afterward that he should have tapped the top
of his cap earlier in the at-bat so the ABS system could take a look.
"I usually let the catchers make that determination," he said. "But looking
back, I think situationally, how important it was that at-bat, looking back I
think I could have done a few challenges."
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called challenging pitches an "inexact science"
and, like Ohtani, is fine leaving it in the hands of the players with the best
view in the stadium. And, if the umpire's call was confirmed, it meant Los
Angeles would be out of challenges heading into the final innings.
Besides, how often does Ohtani and the Los Angeles bullpen blow a five-run
lead? Not often. Even after Lowe's double and an error by third baseman Max
Muncy that allowed Lowe to score, the Dodgers were still up two heading into
the eighth.
Los Angeles entered the night a tidy 36-3 when leading after seven. Callihan
--- who hit the first homer of his career earlier in the game with a 427-foot
shot off Ohtani --- gave the Pirates the lead with a three-run blast in the
eighth. Spencer Horwitz then added a two-run homer to give Pittsburgh the kind
of cushion it needed after Ohtani delivered a two-run home run of his own in
the top of the ninth to cut the deficit to one.
"You're not going to face too many guys like that," Pirates manager Don Kelly
said. "There's one. It's ridiculous what he's able to do."
Even if Ohtani showed small glimpses of vulnerability during his first-ever
start at PNC Park. Ohtani acknowledged shaking off Rushing a few times,
something he attributed to not working with the Los Angeles reserve catcher
that often.
"It's something you just have to have a conversation here and there and be on
the same page," Ohtani said.
The two could be working together more often in the near future after Roberts
announced postgame that starter Will Smith is heading to the 10-day injured
list with a neck injury.
Ohtani will have nearly a week off until his next scheduled turn in the
rotation. Though the work never really stops. Roberts said the plan is for
Ohtani to lead off as usual during Thursday's series finale rather than give
him a break after --- statistically anyway --- his toughest day on the hill
this season.
That's just the way Ohtani wants it.
"I'm always going to be prepared to play tomorrow," he said.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB
|
