NEW YORK (AP) — Shohei Ohtani had a lubricant injected into his left knee, but the Dodgers two-way star did not have fluid drained, Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said Friday.
Ohtani was in the starting lineup leading off as the designated hitter in Friday's second-half opener against the New York Yankees. The four-time MVP is not slated to pitch this weekend and likely will make his next start Wednesday at Philadelphia.
Roberts said Ohtani had the procedure after Sunday's game against Arizona. Ohtani last pitched on July 3.
“It gives him some relief in his knee, which we were hoping to get, and then the four days off from activity, which gets it all to kind of settle in,” Roberts said. “I think we are certainly more prepared to back off on the workload if it calls for it, but Shohei wants to be out there as much as he possibly can.”
Ohtani is batting .293 with 22 homers and 58 RBIs while going 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA and 95 strikeouts in 85 2/3 innings over 14 starts. The four-time MVP skipped Tuesday’s All-Star Game.
Roberts will try to give Ohtani days off after his pitching starts if possible.
“Safe to say that even there isn’t an off day behind it, I would like to give him that next day off,” Roberts said. “So ideally, yeah, he would have the scheduled off day behind it but that’s not always possible but that’s not always possible, kind of with the schedule and also where he’s at.”
Roberts said Ohtani probably will throw off a mound in the next few days to test the knee.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
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