Shohei Ohtani dominates on mound again as Dodgers shut out Diamondbacks

PHOENIX - With Cristopher Sanchez and Jacob Misiorowski in the same league, Shohei Ohtani is going to have to do something pretty special to land his targeted Cy Young Award this season.

Okay – that's kind of his specialty.

Ohtani didn't allow a hit until the fourth inning, pitched six scoreless innings – oh, and reached base five times – as the Dodgers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 7-0, Wednesday night for their 16th win in the past 20 games.

"It's incredible. He's the best player that's ever walked this earth," Dodgers catcher Will Smith said. "It's fun to see him each and every day going out there and competing, giving us six scoreless innings, getting on base a bunch. You don't do that all the time. It's pretty cool."

Ohtani's ERA after 10 starts is 0.74, better than Sanchez (1.46) or Misiorowski (1.65). But the Dodgers' two-way star lags behind in innings pitched – 61 to Sanchez's 86⅓ and Misiorowski's 71. Ohtani has allowed just one run in 24 innings over his past four starts.

Since ERA became official in 1913, Ohtani has the lowest ERA after 10 starts behind only Jacob deGrom (0.56 in 2021) and Juan Marichal (0.59 in 1966), according to MLB statistician Sarah Langs.

"I like where I'm at," Ohtani said through his interpreter – before showing poor command with the calendar. "But it's still May. I do want to be able to look back halfway through the season and see where things are at. But I'm pleased with where I'm at right now."

He should be.

Coming off six hitless innings in his start against the Colorado Rockies last week, Ohtani retired the first 11 Diamondbacks in order before Gabriel Moreno sliced a ground ball between Freddie Freeman and the first-base bag for a two-out double in the fourth inning.

It was the first hit Ohtani had allowed since back-to-back singles by Bryce Johnson and Nick Castellanos leading off the fifth inning of Ohtani's start in San Diego on May 20. He recorded 32 outs in between hits allowed.

"I think he's really being very selfish with baserunners, trying (not) to give up runs," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "I think a lot of starting pitchers – you feel your way into the game, give up a couple early and you bear down. But I've noticed with Shohei, every run is a premium.

"He's literally trying to throw a shutout every time out there, where I don't know that every starter has that mindset."

Even as he set hitters down, Ohtani has been dissatisfied, with his command in particular. He expressed some frustration after the start against the Rockies in which he walked four – and during the game when broadcast microphones picked up that frustration with a capital ‘F.'

He had some of the same issues on Wednesday. In the first two innings, he sent Geraldo Perdomo and Nolan Arenado sprawling with errant fastballs. But he didn't walk anybody until the sixth inning when he ran into the briefest of trouble.

After he walked the No. 9 hitter, Tommy Troy, with one out in the sixth, Ohtani gave up his second hit of the night, a single to Geraldo Perdomo, putting two Diamondbacks on base. Corbin Carroll bounced Ohtani's next pitch to second baseman Alex Freeland, who started a 4-6-3 double play, Mookie Betts' throw just beating the speedy Carroll to first base.

"I know a few balls kind of sprayed away. It probably helped him back some guys off the plate, make them feel a little more uncomfortable," Smith said. "But I think overall, yeah, his command was actually pretty good."

Ohtani will be able to reflect on his night all day Thursday. Roberts said before the game that Ohtani would get the full day off, saying he hoped Ohtani would just "empty the tank" on Wednesday in advance of a full recovery day.

He did that well enough, reaching base five times in Wednesday's win. Since the last time the Dodgers gave him a day off after a pitching start (May 14), Ohtani has been on a tear, going 30 for 69 (.435) with seven doubles, two triples and three home runs. He had three singles and two walks Wednesday.

"I think it helped a little bit, but overall the biggest reason for me getting out of that stretch was more mechanical," Ohtani said. "It's not easy to maintain the mechanics throughout the whole season, so I attribute it more to mechanics."

The Dodgers have been waiting for that kind of surge from offseason addition Kyle Tucker. They have only seen it in fits and starts. Maybe Wednesday will be the real start of something. He had three hits in the win, including a two-run home run in the second inning that snapped a 3-for-26 valley. It was his first home run since May 4 with an even 100 homerless plate appearances in between and the exit velocity (107.6 mph) made it his hardest-hit ball of the season.

"It was probably the best swing and ball flight and everything I've had all year," Tucker said. "That's kind of the swing I've been searching for the whole time, and it's good to get that off and kind of carry that over for a few at-bats after that. So (I'll) just try and continue that again tomorrow."

Ohtani's leadoff walk in the third inning sparked a three-run inning that boosted the Dodgers to a 5-0 getaway. Freeman had a two-run single and Max Muncy another run-scoring single in the inning.

The Dodgers pulled away further on Freeland's two-run single in the seventh inning. With the Dodgers in a commanding position, Roberts ended Ohtani's night on the mound at 89 pitches. The six-inning outing left him one inning short of qualifying for the ERA leaderboard at this point.

"Yeah, I can be mindful of it. But I still think that you still have to play the game. I got to manage the game accordingly, to what's best for the team," Roberts said of boosting Ohtani's innings total for the Cy Young race. "With those three guys, you're not gonna win it on June 3. There's a lot of baseball left."

Only three pitchers over the past 55 years have pitched six or more scoreless innings and reached base four or more times in the same game. Ohtani has done it twice (Game 4 of last year's NLCS and Wednesday).

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This story was originally published June 3, 2026 at 10:04 PM.