What kind of hit did Ohtani hit with the bases loaded in the ninth inning of Roberts, who was blatantly disappointed that he was going to strike out there
Aug 11, 2025
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The Dodgers suffered a come-from-behind loss of 4-5 in the last of three consecutive home games against the Toronto Blue Jays at Dodger Stadium on the 11th (Korea time). Roberts reprimanded Ohtani for striking out swinging in a bases-loaded chance in the bottom of the ninth inning.
In the ninth inning, trailing by 4-5, the Dodgers took a chance at first and second bases with no outs, with the lead Andy Pazs and Max Muncy taking consecutive walks from Toronto closer Jeff Hoffman. Alex Freeland then calmly bunt to the third base, with one out and runners on the second and third bases. No. 9 hitter Alex Cole drew a straight walk, leading to a chance with one out and the bases loaded.
At this time, the Toronto bench lowered Hoffman and put left-handed Mace Flugherty on the mound. Fluherty is a rookie bullpen pitcher with a 5.23 ERA until the previous day. Ohtani is the second pitcher to meet in the three consecutive games. Earlier, Ohtani had no choice but to approach carefully because he was struck out by Flugherty after two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning with a 5-1 lead the previous day.
Ohtani dragged him to the full count. Flugherty did not back down despite a thorough cornering. Ohtani fouled out an 82.8-mile sweeper that fell into the low strike zone in the middle of the seventh pitch and an 81.7-mile sweeper that dug into the eighth strike zone.
Then the ninth pitch, Flugherty threw the sweeper back to the low course in the middle. The moment it fell low, Ohtani's bat split through the air. Ohtani didn't seem to expect to throw three sweepers in a row. He flew into the strike zone and swung after losing his balance to the falling ball.
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"I'm really disappointed because I don't think we should lose today's game. We put our opponents in danger many times, but we didn't beat them, so we're really disappointed. And mentioned Ohtani's last at-bat.
Roberts said, `I didn't think Ohtani would strike out. We should have pulled a point from that point. "It's not supposed to happen for the bat to chase away the ball that's going low," he said. "The swing was entirely Ohtani's decision, but it wasn't a good baseball play."
Roberts has been consistent with praise in every interview since Ohtani came to the Dodgers last year. The point is that self-management is thorough and if weaknesses are found, it is thoroughly professional to find and correct them. In the process of rehabilitation to return to the pitcher, he fully trusted Ohtani and spared no support.
However, he couldn't hit an outfield fly and struck out in the bottom of the ninth inning with one out, so he must have been disappointed.
Ohtani hit his 41st home run of the season in the bottom of the first inning by pulling an 86.7-mile cutter that flew into the middle of the fourth pitch with a ball count of 1B2S against Toronto left-hander Eric Lauer. After hitting a solo shot in the middle of the fifth inning the previous day, he drew an arch for two consecutive days, re-emerging as a joint leader in NL home runs.
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He added a hit in the fourth at-bat after one out in the sixth inning with a 3-2 lead. He hit right-hander Serantoni Dominguez's 97.2 mile fastball on the sixth pitch to lead to a single that fell in front of center field. However, Ohtani, who succeeded in stealing second base immediately, was tagged out at third base while attempting a double steal with first baseman Will Smith at Freeman's at-bat while his opponent turned into Brandon Little after two outs and the inning ended.
In response, the local broadcaster responded, `I can't believe I'm trying to gamble like that", he pointed out. It was the moment when the Dodgers were deprived of the flow.
On this day, the Dodgers' lineup recorded 16 bases, the most by a team this season, even though it had 10 hits and 13 walks. He hit 1 for 10 at-bats in the scoring position, and in the last two innings, the 8th and 9th innings, he scored only one run even though he had consecutive bases loaded opportunities. All nine starting hitters lost even though they got on base more than once.
The NL West-leading Dodgers have been struggling with 15 wins and 18 losses in 33 games since July 1. On the other hand, second-place San Diego continued its surge with 21 wins and 13 losses. During the same period, he performed second only to the Milwaukee Brewers (26 wins and 7 losses) in the NL. The gap with San Diego, which was 7.5 games apart in early July, has narrowed to two games.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
