By MIKEY HIRANO CULROSS, Rafu Sports Editor
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts acknowledged that his star designated hitter is not performing as many expected, but remains confident that even a Shohei Ohtani at less than 100 percent is an asset.
“I think if you look at the at-bats, there’s a lot of chase,” Roberts said of Ohtani’s recent plate appearances, after the Dodgers’ late comeback fell short on Sunday, losing 3-2 to the visiting Atlanta Braves and tying their best-of-five National League Division Series at a game apiece.
“It’s hard to square up, to put good swings on balls that are out of the zone. That’s kind of what it boils down to,” Roberts added. “I haven’t heard anything other than he feels fine. So I don’t know if he’s trying to do too much because he doesn’t feel perfect. This time of year, no one feels perfect. He’s doing the best he can.”
Ohtani had a single and a pair of strikeouts in four at-bats in Game 2. Various injuries have plagued the two-way star since mid-season, and he and the Dodgers decided to remove him from the pitching roster for the remainder of the year. His 30 home runs are his lowest season total in six years.
During the off-day Monday in Atlanta, Roberts said moving Ohtani down in the lineup was a possibility, but he would confer with him about that.
Roki Sasaki pitched the last two innings in relief in Game 2, and despite a walk and hit batsman loading the bases in the eighth, induced a double play to get out of the jam and finished with a scoreless outing.
“I couldn’t afford to give up even a single run, so I wanted to keep them off the board no matter how I did it,” said Sasaki, who let loose on a 102-mile-per-hour fastball, the hardest he’s thrown since joining the U.S. major leagues.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto gets the start against Chris Sale and the Braves in Game 3 and said he will be focused on the job in front of him.
“It will be an important game that could affect the momentum of the series,” Yamamoto told reporters on Monday. “I just want to do everything I can to help us win.”
Last year’s World Series MVP allowed the Braves only one run in 6-2/3 innings in a game in August, but Sale tossed a complete-game shutout to earn the win.
Yamamoto’s training regimen has been drawing wide attention since his postseason run last year, in which he turned in masterful starts and effective relief as the Dodgers won their second championship.
“Physically, I’m really feeling really good, because I’m ready for the game,” he said Monday.
Game 3 of the NLDS is set for 3 p.m. Los Angeles time on Tuesday.