Shohei Ohtani hits leadoff homer after getting scratched from pitching start

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers issued a reminder of the stakes at 1:00 p.m. local time on Friday for the rest of their season, with an email containing the subject line: “Shohei Ohtani Update.”

Ohtani was scratched from his pitching start on Friday and will not be at the All-Star Game next week in Philadelphia. He will instead get his left knee drained and will likely get a pain-killing injection, hoping to keep the bigger picture front of mind with a chance at a third consecutive World Series title still ahead of him.

Then Ohtani went out and emphasized his importance to the Dodgers, launching a leadoff home run on the third pitch he saw.

Shohei Ohtani leads things off for the @Dodgers with a homer to the opposite field 🔥 pic.twitter.com/B4bNHy6euk

— MLB (@MLB) July 11, 2026

“With where we’re at, who he is as a player, if there’s opportunities to be extra cautious and mindful, it’s just prudent,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

Roberts downplayed the issue, which Ohtani has been playing through for a month and required imaging in mid-June. If this were October, Ohtani would be pitching. It’s not, so Ohtani alerted the Dodgers on Thursday’s off day that the knee was still bugging him. They put him on ice, with the expectation being that he will be in the lineup when the second half begins and in the club’s opening rotation of pitchers after the break.

To put it simply: The Dodgers, with a 14 1/2-game lead in the National League West entering Friday’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, are all but assured a spot in October. The most important question to answer until then is how they will get Ohtani there in one piece as a two-way player.

So Ohtani hit but did not pitch on Friday, and showed what he can do even with a compromised knee. He launched Eduardo Rodriguez’s 92.3 mph fastball the other way for a leadoff blast, his 21st home run. Andy Pages followed with a back-to-back homer to erase an early Dodgers deficit.

The Dodgers are already playing the long game with several stars. Their injured list already includes Blake Snell, Edwin Díaz, Tyler Glasnow, Will Smith and Kiké Hernández, among others. Their massive lead has given them the cushion not to rush any of them back if they’re not at 100 percent.

Doing this with Ohtani is still new for the Dodgers. President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman called it “unprecedented” earlier this season; though Ohtani completed two-way seasons with the Angels, he has not had to do so since 2023. He turned 32 years old on Sunday. He has had a second elbow surgery and a procedure on his non-throwing shoulder since his last full-fledged two-way year. The finish line is also farther away than it was during his years missing the postseason in Anaheim.

In 2023, he had a combined 1,130 plate appearances and batters faced as a two-way player. He was already at 735 this season entering Friday. The Dodgers had not skipped a single one of his pitching starts before Friday, though they did push his last start back two days to give him extra rest.

“I think that I’ve been much more open and watching, wide-eyed, open-eyed to his workload,” Roberts said. “Not just taking for granted that he can be a two-way player, take every at-bat, pitch like a normal pitcher. I think that would be unfair.”

Ohtani entered this season with aspirations of becoming the first Japanese-born pitcher ever to win a Cy Young Award. His form on the mound started slipping around the same time his knee started to bother him, as he’s allowed 14 runs (12 earned) in his past 24 2/3 innings. Ohtani has operated under the belief that his pitching mechanics caused the knee discomfort and tweaked how he’s using his landing leg as a result.

“He’s been managing this quite well, the knee,” Roberts said. Ohtani has been careful with it, including not attempting a single stolen base since May 22.

No specific incident prompted this week’s decision, though the All-Star break provided a window to address things.

It is important to remember this is not just the knee. Ohtani dealt with a blister on his right middle finger for a stretch of the season. He left the game a week ago during his last scheduled pitching start after complaining of right biceps discomfort while taking a swing. Nothing has given the Dodgers grave concern about his long-term ability to be a two-way player. He has produced, with a 1.79 ERA in 85 2/3 innings so far this season as a pitcher to go with a .939 OPS as a hitter.

But there have been reminders of the toll that his two-way responsibilities take on the body.

Which means this conversation won’t stop even after he returns to the mound after the All-Star break. With Ohtani, only one thing matters.

“Nothing is gonna come in front of being healthy for October,” Roberts said.