Ohtani 'really grateful' after making Dodgers pitching debut
Shohei Ohtani was feeling emotional after making his long-awaited pitching debut as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday night.
"I'm just really grateful, reflecting back on all the support that I received from the doctors that operated on me, the support staff, the team and everybody who supported me along the way," he said after Los Angeles' 6-3 victory over the San Diego Padres, according to Sonja Chen of MLB.com.
The two-way phenom allowed one run on two hits in his first inning of work since 2023. He threw 28 pitches in the abbreviated outing, including a fastball that exceeded 100 mph and another at 99.9 mph.
He gave up a sacrifice fly to Padres third baseman Manny Machado after allowing back-to-back singles, then retired Gavin Sheets and Xander Bogaerts via ground balls to avoid further damage.
The usually unflappable star admitted to feeling some nerves while pitching in front of a packed Dodger Stadium.
"Definitely a little bit more than when I was solely a position player," he said.
Ohtani went 2-4 with two RBIs at the plate as the designated hitter. He's scored the most runs in all of baseball (73) and leads the National League with 25 homers and a 1.039 OPS (190 OPS+).
He's eyeing a more prolonged appearance his next time out.
"I did hit 100 today, so I want to see first where my body feels and how it reacts," Ohtani 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."
Los Angeles will take whatever length it can get from Ohtani, as 14 of its pitchers are currently on the injured list.
Ohtani owns a career 3.02 ERA with an 11.3 K/9 as a pitcher.