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Shohei Ohtani appeared to be a bit rusty on the mound as he made his Los Angeles Dodgers pitching debut on Monday night against the San Diego Padres.
Ohtani opened the game by allowing one run on two hits in the lone inning he pitched. He threw 28 pitches in his appearance, which was the second most by any Dodgers pitcher throughout the game.
Still, it was a massive first step to get back to the mound for live-game action as he went 21 months without pitching due to an elbow injury. He threw a fastball at 100.2 mph.
“I was aiming to sit 95-96,” Ohtani said through a translator after the Dodgers won the game 6-3, “but the game intensity really allowed me to throw a little harder.”
Ohtani admitted his nerves were heightened a bit more for the outing. He went 2-for-4 at the plate with two RBI, a walk and two strikeouts.
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“But I did hit 100 (mph) today, so I want to see first where my body feels and how it reacts,” he said. “But the expectation is for me to go once a week. Hopefully to be able to go a little longer every time I’m out there so that the bullpen won’t be so taxed.”
While Ohtani was more modest about his first appearance, third baseman Max Muncy thought Ohtani looked great.
“Stuff looked electric, but when you haven’t pitched in that long of a time, and you don’t really get a chance to do any rehab games, maybe the command isn’t going to be there and that’s kind of what we saw tonight,” he said.
The Dodgers improved to 44-29 with the win. San Diego fell to 39-32.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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