It took 669 days, two starts, and 46 pitches, but Shohei Ohtani finally notched his first strikeout as a pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
On a sun-splashed Sunday afternoon at Chavez Ravine, the two-way superstar fired an 18-pitch, no-hit inning against the Washington Nationals, fanning a pair of batters and giving fans a tantalizing glimpse of the version of Ohtani they’ve been waiting for.
This wasn’t about velocity. It wasn’t about dominance. It wasn’t even about workload. It was about a whisper of what’s to come—a tease of the two-way firepower that made Ohtani a once-in-a-century marvel and landed him a $700 million with the Dodgers in December of 2023.
After missing all of 2024 as a pitcher while recovering from a second Tommy John surgery, Ohtani is easing back into double duty, and on Sunday, that return took one more meaningful step forward.
His inning? Short and surgical.
He needed just one pitch to retire Nationals’ leadoff man CJ Abrams, who grounded out meekily to second base to start the game.
After an error on Moolie Betts at short, Ohtani mixed pitches like a painter mixing paint. Sweeper, fastball, fastball, sweeper. Sit down, Luis Garcia.
The crowd of 48,200 at Dodger Stadium—already buzzing from his pregame warmups—erupted like it was October.
Ohtani concluded his second start with an 88 mph cutter that finished off a seven-pitch battle with Nathaniel Lowe for his second strikeout of the inning.
Ohtani did not return to the mound for the second inning, and made 18 total pitches. He made 28 in one inning of work in his first start.
It was just one inning—again. But in it, you could see the promise.
Against the Padres six days earlier, Ohtani’s first pitch since August 2023 was greeted with deafening cheers and ended with a rough takeoff. One run, two hits, no strikeouts. He threw 28 pitches, worked around some command issues, and called it a day.
But this outing was different.
The splitter had bite. The slider had tilt. The fastball—clocked at 99 mph—had that familiar late life. And unlike his season debut, this time, there was swing-and-miss stuff. The Nationals lineup didn’t look overmatched, but they weren’t comfortable either. And when Ohtani’s on, comfort is a luxury opponents rarely get to enjoy.
For Dodgers fans, this slow rollout is part of the plan. The team isn’t rushing anything. Ohtani is on a leash—shorter than any he’s ever worn—but it’s deliberate. Calculated. He’s expected to pitch sparingly through the summer while continuing to anchor the lineup as one of MLB’s premier designated hitters.
And make no mistake, he’s been raking.
Through Sunday, Ohtani leads the National League in home runs with 25.
But this? This was a taste of something much bigger. The Dodgers don’t just want Ohtani the hitter. They want the unicorn. The double-barreled weapon. The one who can mow down the opponent’s order in the top of the first, then drop a 450-foot homer in the bottom half of the inning. They want that Ohtani.
And on Sunday, for a single, magnificent inning, they saw a flash of him.
The next step? Stretching out. More innings. More strikeouts. Maybe even a win.
For now, though, the Dodgers will take this small victory. Because when Ohtani’s on the mound—even for just 18 pitches—it feels like baseball is bending toward something beautiful again.
And if this is just the beginning? The rest of the league better brace for the storm.