Shohei Ohtani lowers ERA even more with brilliant outing vs. Giants

The back to back National League MVP made the most of the next two days off from hitting throwing a season-high 105 pitches over seven scoreless innings in which he allowed only four hits with eight strikeouts giving the Dodgers bullpen a much-needed reprieve in their 4-0 win over the San Francisco Giants. The win ended a four game losing streak for the Dodgers.

With his seven starts this season Ohtani's ERA is now 0.82 best in the big leagues.

Ohtani’s sweeper was especially effective in the outing, used for half his strikeouts on the night and drawing 17 total strikes on it for a called strike + whiff rate of 41%. ““I felt pretty good,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton after the game. ""Even if the hitter is sitting there on it, doesn’t mean I won’t throw it. But overall, just the quality of it was pretty good.

The Dodgers offense snapped out of its recent funk to give Ohtani some run support. It began in the third inning when Mookie Betts launched a 414-foot moonshot that was halfway up the left field pavilion seats off a fastball down the middle from Giants starter Robbie Ray. It was Betts’ first homer since coming off the IL Monday. That homer followed Santiago Espinal’s solo shot, his first of the year.

Kyle Tucker would later score on a Teoscar Hernández RBI single. Hernández would come home himself on a sac fly by Alex Call in the bottom of the fourth.

“That was Ohtani’s line from Wednesday’s 4-0 win against the Giants:

Shohei Ohtani pitching stats vs. Giants

Innings pitched: 7.0

Hits allowed: 4

Runs allowed: 0

Earned runs allowed: 0

Walks: 2

Strikeouts: 8

Pitches thrown: 105

Strikes thrown: 71

ERA: 0.82