Ohtani's Gem, Then Drama

Shohei Ohtani left the mound in Toronto after six innings with the Los Angeles Dodgers ahead 2-1, and the Dodgers still lost 4-3 after the bullpen gave it away late. The strange part of Wednesday’s game is that Ohtani looked dominant enough to win and still walked off with a no-decision in a loss. (mlb.com) (espn.com) He gave up two runs, but only one was earned, which means one run scored because of a defensive mistake instead of clean pitching. He also struck out six Blue Jays hitters and stretched his scoreless-earned-run streak to 26 2/3 innings, the longest active run in Major League Baseball. (latimes.com) (mlb.com) That streak matters because earned runs are the runs pitchers are actually charged with, so it is the closest baseball has to a clean measure of whether a starter is being solved. Through three starts, Ohtani has looked less like a pitcher easing back into form and more like a starter who is already dictating games. (latimes.com) (mlb.com) He also reached base again at the plate, pushing his on-base streak to 43 games and tying Ichiro Suzuki for the longest streak by a Japanese-born player in Major League Baseball. Ohtani did that while serving as both the Dodgers’ starting pitcher and one of their most dangerous hitters in the same game. (mlb.com) (latimes.com) The game got messier in the sixth inning, when Ohtani took extra warmup throws before returning to the mound. George Springer, the Blue Jays’ veteran outfielder, asked home-plate umpire Dan Bellino about the delay, and players from both dugouts started chirping. (nytimes.com) (clutchpoints.com) The issue was timing, not a hidden rule about Ohtani. Pitchers get a set amount of time between innings under Major League Baseball’s pace-of-play clock, and Springer’s complaint was that Ohtani appeared to get more grace than most pitchers would. (nytimes.com) (clutchpoints.com) Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said afterward that Ohtani needed a little extra time because he was also hitting, which creates a stranger rhythm than a normal starter has. A regular pitcher can spend the inning in the dugout preparing for the next frame, but Ohtani might be on deck, at bat, or running the bases instead. (mlb.com) (clutchpoints.com) That is the real backdrop to this whole night: baseball still does not have many clean templates for a player who is both the starting pitcher and the lineup’s centerpiece. Even a routine thing like the between-innings clock can turn into an argument when the sport is dealing with a player who breaks its normal categories. (nytimes.com) (mlb.com) Toronto still got the last word on the scoreboard with a 4-3 comeback win, but the game added another entry to the same Ohtani file baseball keeps building. He can match Ichiro Suzuki with his bat, post ace-level innings on the mound, and create an umpire debate just by taking a few extra throws before the next inning starts. (espn.com) (latimes.com) (nytimes.com)