Dodgers, emergency! Ohtani Is Weird In his seventh appearance, he suddenly has six consecutive balls → emergency steel plate. Is it a sign of injury
Jul 31, 2025
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A sudden bad news occurred for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are almost certain to advance to the postseason by leading the National League West. Shohei Ohtani, the team's key hitter and continuing his trial appearance to enter the starting rotation, suddenly shook on the mound.
This is not the usual appearance of Ohtani. In the end, manager Dave Roberts came up and ordered Ohtani's steel plate. It is a scene where you suspect that there is a problem with your body condition. If the injury recurs, Ohtani's 'Startback Project' could be completely suspended.
Ohtani started in an away game against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, Ohio on the 31st (Korea time). This is Ohtani's seventh start this season, and he has not yet received a full starting pitcher's mission. On this day, he was scheduled to play only four innings as an opener.
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Roberts was in no hurry to return Ohtani to the starting lineup. In the first two games, he pitched just one inning. He then pitched two innings against Kansas City on June 29 and Houston on July 6. In the game against San Francisco on the 13th and Minnesota on the 22nd, he increased his pitching innings to three innings. As a starter, I went through the build-up process step by step so that I could throw more than five innings.
Until then, Ohtani had a 1.50 ERA (two runs in 12 innings) and was in good condition. The maximum speed was 101.7 miles (about 164 kilometers per hour). After entering the big league, he broke his previous maximum speed of 101.4 miles.
Now it was my turn to play four innings. If he showed a strong performance here, he planned to throw more than five innings in earnest from mid-August to take on the real starting mission, not the opener.
However, the problem was revealed in the first four innings of mission game against Cincinnati.
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He also gave up two hits in the second inning, but eventually prevented a run. The third inning was the first three-way inning of the day. McClain hit a fly ball to left field, De La Cruz hit a grounder to second base, and Hayes hit a grounder to shortstop. He finished the inning with just eight pitches.
However, there was a problem in the fourth inning. The balance suddenly collapsed after allowing leadoff hitter Noelby Marte to make an infield hit to the third base. During the subsequent Tyler Stephenson at-bat, he sent the runner to third base with consecutive wild pitches and eventually gave up a straight walk. He then threw two consecutive balls to Spencer Steyer.
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Anthony Banda, who followed, walked Steer to load the bases. Ohtani's earned run on the day was two points because he only gave up one sacrifice fly to center field to finish the inning with one run.
After that, Ohtani finished the game as a designated hitter without being completely replaced in the game. But he didn't do well at bat either. In the end, he had no hits in five at-bats and only one strikeout.
The reason Ohtani's pitching balance suddenly collapsed is known to be muscle spasms. However, it is not yet known exactly which part it is.
MLB.COM, the official page of Major League Baseball, is 'The Juss club did not say where Ohtani's spasms appeared. However, according to a later report by SportsNet, Ohtani is presumed to have developed cramps in his lower body muscles, saying that he did stretching his lower body.
The worst seems to have been avoided in that it is not an elbow problem. However, there is a possibility that Ohtani's return to the starting lineup will be slightly delayed.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
