BALTIMORE, Maryland – Shohei Ohtani made an unexpected start on the mound and threw 3-2/3 shutout innings before the Los Angeles Dodgers fell to their fourth straight defeat Friday as the Baltimore Orioles walked off 2-1.
Ohtani, whose scheduled Wednesday start was scratched due to a chest cold, deputized for Tyler Glasnow who had back tightness. The two-way star struck out five while allowing three hits and a walk in a 70-pitch effort at Oriole Park.
After allowing a single each in the second and third, Ohtani, who topped out at 101.5 miles per hour, faced his biggest jam in the fourth when Ryan Mountcastle led the inning with a double and reached third on a wild pitch.
The right-hander struck out Colton Cowser with a full-count four-seamer and Emmanuel Rivera with a 1-2 sweeper, however, before he was relieved by Anthony Banda, who closed out the inning.
“My condition was good. I wanted to throw the full four innings,” said Ohtani, who earned his first win since his Sept. 2023 elbow surgery in his last outing on Aug. 27.
“I was trying to pitch to contact in order to throw as long an inning as I could, but the pitch count piled up.”
Freddie Freeman’s solo home run in the sixth tied the game at 1-1 for the Dodgers, but Samuel Basallo’s solo shot in the ninth handed the Orioles the win as Ohtani went 0-for-3 at the plate.