Shohei Ohtani strikes out 9, Dodgers finish sweep of Reds

[Los Angeles Dodgers]

Shohei Ohtani strikes out 9, Dodgers finish sweep of Reds

LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani had his longest pitching start yet with the Dodgers and struck out nine in a 5-1 win over the Reds on Wednesday night in Los Angeles to complete the sweep.

Of the 20 three-game series this season at Dodger Stadium, 10 have ended in sweeps, seven in the Dodgers’ favor. The four-game winning streak by Los Angeles — their longest in eight weeks — has them two games up on the Padres in the National League West.

Ohtani was wild early on, with two walks and two wild pitches in a 27-pitch second inning, which he was able to keep scoreless thanks to three strikeouts in the frame. Noelvi Marté took Ohtani deep in the third inning to open the scoring, the third home run allowed by Ohtani this season. Like Byron Buxton (July 21) and Taylor Ward (August 13), Marté’s blast was a solo shot.

After the homer, Ohtani retired his final eight batters with four more strikeouts to give him nine on the night. He needed 45 pitches to get his first six outs, but threw only 42 pitches over the next three innings.

“This was a complete performance by Shohei,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Through three innings, the pitch count was up there. For him to find a way to get through four and five was a huge accomplishment.”

Ohtani achieved several pitching season highs on the night, with five innings, 87 pitches, and nine strikeouts. He also induced 14 swinging strikes, five coming on the sweeper and four more on his curveball. The nine strikeouts were the most for Ohtani since July 21, 2023 with the Angels, in a 6 1/3-inning start against the Pirates.

Shohei Ohtani records his season-high 9th strikeout pic.twitter.com/Jg7TPgOk1n

— MLB (@MLB) August 28, 2025

“Progressing through this rehab in general, aside from the innings, I wanted to just be able to incorporate other pitches,” Ohtani said, through interpreter Will Ireton, of throwing his curveball and sweeper each more than his fastball on Wednesday. “That was the intent going in.”

“He’s like Yoshi[nobu Yamamoto] in a way,” said Dalton Rushing, who caught his fourth of Ohtani’s 11 pitching starts this year. “He has so many pitches, and everything is in the zone.”

The Dodgers have been purposely gradual in Ohtani’s return from September 2023 elbow surgery, building him back up slowly with incremental increases in workload. The plan was for Ohtani to get through five innings in each of his last two starts, too, though he faltered and allowed nine total runs in 8 1/3 innings. But there’s also still time on the schedule for at least four more regular season starts to get Ohtani ready to unleash his two-way status in October for the first time.

“That’s why we went through this process, of starting him slow, building him up,” Roberts said before the game. “The point wasn’t August [27], it was through the postseason, and then locking in.”

Nick Lodolo struck out 11 Dodgers in 5 1/3 innings in Cincinnati on July 29, but in between now and then only recorded five outs in his one start, missing the bulk of that time on the injured list with a blister on his left finger. He was dominant in the first three innings on Wednesday, with five strikeouts and retired each of his first nine batters faced.

In the fourth inning though, the Dodgers BABIP’d Lodolo to death, with a few pop-fly singles and a pair of seeing-eye two-run singles. The second two-run single came after Lodolo intentionally walked Miguel Rojas with first base open, the first intentional walk for Rojas since 2022 while with the Marlins.

That brought up Dalton Rushing, whose numbers haven’t yet been as good as those of Rojas this year, but is one of the best Dodgers hitting prospects in recent memory. Even with the handedness advantage of left on left, Rushing cashed in the opportunity with a single that extended the Dodgers lead from 2-1 to 4-1.

Michael Conforto added an insurance run in the eighth inning with a solo home run, his first since July 27, snapping an 83-plate-appearance drought.

Jack Dreyer, Justin Wrobleski, Edgardo Henriquez, and Blake Treinen all worked through traffic to each pitch a scoreless inning, and each had multiple strikeouts. Nineteen strikeouts by Dodgers pitchers are a new season high, surpassing the 16 achieved on March 28 (in 10 innings) against the Tigers and April 16 against the Rockies.

It’s the most strikeouts ever by the Dodgers in a nine-inning game.

Wednesday particulars​

Home runs: Michael Conforto (10); Noelvi Marté (11)

WP — Shohei Ohtani (1-1): 5 IP, 2 hits, 1 run, 2 walks, 9 strikeouts

LP — Nick Lodolo (8-7): 4 2/3 IP, 5 hits, 4 runs, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts

Up next​

The Dodgers finished their 13 game days in a row at 9-4 and now get to rest on Thursday before opening a series against the Diamondbacks on Friday night (7:10 p.m.; SportsNet LA, MLB Network). Blake Snell starts for the home team.

Source: https://www.truebluela.com/dodgers-...ni-strikes-out-9-dodgers-finish-sweep-of-reds