by Mark Langill
These are not merely baseball games in the world of Shohei Ohtani.
They are the latest scenes in a movie that’s still hard to believe.
Ohtani struck out eight batters in four innings and homered for his 1,000th career hit against the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday afternoon. The short-lived party took place on a day when the fans received a commemorative Ohtani World Series ring.
For the Dodgers, it didn’t finish wih a happy ending. Sloppy defense and shaky relief in the late innings contributed to the their 5–3 loss.
Before the game, Dodger manager Dave Roberts nominated Ohtani for 2025 National League MVP honors. Roberts, of course, doesn’t have a vote, and there are seven weeks left in the regular season.
But it’s easy to be swept away in the excitement of Ohtani, whose return to the pitcher’s mound this season was described by Roberts as “house money.”
St. Louis managed just two hits off Ohtani, who left his previous start after three-plus innings at Cincinnati on July 30 because of hip cramping. The Cardinals’ only run against him was aided by an infield single that second baseman Miguel Rojas lost in the sun leading off the third inning.
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“It would’ve been a huge win for us if we were able to flip the script,” Ohtani said.
After Ohtani’s dominating performance, St. Louis jumped on the Dodger bullpen. Relievers Justin Wrobleski, Alex Vesia and Brock Stewart allowed four runs on 10 hits.
The disappointing loss left Roberts reminding everyone the first-place Dodgers can’t be a one-man show.
“Shohei was really good today,” Roberts said. “His fastball command was fantastic and really impressive. I figured he’d come back really focused, which he did.
“Unfortunately, you have to play defense. And the other guys have to put together good at-bats and score runs, too.”
The Dodgers held a 3–2 lead in the eighth inning until St. Louis scored two runs off Vesia. After Jordan Walker’s RBI single, center fielder Andy Pages tried to throw out Masyn Winn advancing from first to third base. Winn reached safely reached third, but rookie Alex Freeland tried to make a play on Walker advancing to second. His throw sailed into right field, giving St. Louis the go-ahead run.
In the ninth inning, the Cardinals added a run off Stewart.
Ohtani didn’t have a chance to bat in the ninth. Pinch-hitter Max Muncy drew a two-out walk and went to second on catcher’s indifference. With Ohtani on deck, Freeland grounded out to second.
Ohtani went 1-for-3 with a walk, including his 39th home run in the third inning off St. Louis starter Matthew Liberatore.
“I don’t try to think differently on days I pitch and days that I only hit,” Ohtani said.
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Ohtani retired the first six batters on 21 pitches, including three strikeouts and two standout catches by left fielder Alex Call.
The Cardinals went ahead 1–0 in the third inning. Walker popped up Ohtani’s first pitch to Rojas, who lost the ball in the sun. It bounced behind him for a single.
Walker stole second, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on Brendan Donovan’s bunt single to third base.
In the third inning, Call hit a leadoff double to right field. One out later, Ohtani belted his 39th home run to center field. Andy Pages later scored on a throwing error in the fourth inning. That represented the entire Dodger scoring offense one night after the team scored 12 runs.
Ohtani’s two-way excellence can’t carry Dodgers in loss to Cards was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.