{"id":300250,"date":"2026-05-05T03:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T03:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/300250\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T03:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T03:48:09","slug":"dodgers-beat-astros-but-shohei-ohtanis-hitless-streak-grows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/300250\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers beat Astros, but Shohei Ohtani’s hitless streak grows"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

HOUSTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0It was the perfect time for Shohei Ohtani<\/a> to step up to the plate. The Dodgers\u2019 offense was rolling again, ready to make a statement with a third-inning rally against the Astros. They loaded the bases and turned over the batting order.<\/p>\n

Then Ohtani chased a sinker off the plate and chopped a slow bouncer to Astros third baseman Isaac Paredes, giving him an easy play at second. A far departure from the eye-popping exit velocities that Ohtani\u2019s swing usually produces, the run-scoring grounder was soft enough to avoid a double play.<\/p>\n

In the Dodgers\u2019 8-3 win<\/a> Monday against the Astros, Ohtani\u2019s hitless streak stretched to five games, his longest such skid since 2022, when he also went five games without a hit (May 24-28).<\/p>\n

\u201cI do feel like over the course of my career it\u2019s just a reality that I\u2019m not exactly hitting at the best of my ability at this time of year,\u201d Ohtani said last week through interpreter Will Ireton. \u201cAt the same time, as a player, I do want to be better and get to that position where I\u2019m feeling really good. It\u2019s a balancing act of the two.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rest of the Dodgers\u2019 offense finally broke out on Monday, against a snakebitten Astros pitching staff.<\/p>\n

Alex Freeland ended the Dodgers\u2019 homerless streak at six games with an opposite-field shot into the Crawford boxes in the second inning. Leading off the third, Kyle Tucker hit a solo home run of his own, giving the Dodgers their first multi-homer game in two weeks.<\/p>\n

Seven Dodgers combined for 13 hits, with Freeland and Will Smith leading the pack with three apiece. Tucker and Freddie Freeman each contributed a pair of RBIs.<\/p>\n

The offensive surge just didn\u2019t extend to Ohtani.<\/p>\n

\"Kyle <\/p>\n

Kyle Tucker hits a solo home run for the Dodgers in the third inning against the Astros on Monday.<\/p>\n

(Tim Warner \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

In contrast to his offensive struggles, Ohtani has been dominant on the mound. He earned a pitcher of the month award for the first time in his career Monday after recording a 0.60 ERA in five starts in March and April.<\/p>\n

Unhappy with just one-sided success, however, Ohtani shook up his routine with early on-field batting practice Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the times when he does this, it works,\u201d manager Dave Roberts said.<\/p>\n

Ohtani took on-field batting practice before Game 3 of the 2025 NL Championship Series and then hit three home runs in Game 4. He usually prefers the batting cages for his pregame BP. But Monday marked the second time this season that he moved his session to the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you hit a ball down the line the other way in the cage, it kind of looks like it\u2019s a foul ball,\u201d hitting coach Aaron Bates said. \u201cWhereas on the field you can see it\u2019s fair, you can kind of see the spin of the ball a little better. It just kind of changes up the environment a little bit. The depth perception, too, helps a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hitting the ball the other way was one of Ohtani\u2019s goals.<\/p>\n

\"Dodgers <\/p>\n

Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivers during the first inning Monday against the Astros.<\/p>\n

(Ashley Landis \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Amid his slow offensive start, Ohtani\u2019s swing has become pull-happy. He\u2019s been hitting the ball to the right side at 53.4% entering Monday, compared to 43.2% last season, according to Statcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more about timing and feel for him, backing up the baseball,\u201d Bates said. \u201cWhen he gathers correctly and hits through the baseball, obviously we\u2019ve seen what he\u2019s capable of doing. But just kind of managing his at-bats right now, trying to get to the big part of the park.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the first time since 2023, Ohtani is also balancing a full starting pitcher\u2019s workload with his offensive responsibilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is easier to maintain something good when things are going well,\u201d Ohtani said. \u201cBut when things are not going well, it\u2019s not easy, in the sense that I have to make sure that I\u2019m healthy and not overdoing it in terms of repetition. So while I\u2019m working on certain things, it\u2019s also a balancing act of making sure I\u2019m not overdoing it physically and making sure that I\u2019m healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

No matter what, it\u2019s going to take a greater physical toll. Case in point: after hitting on the field Monday, Ohtani also threw a bullpen session.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers have tried to help him manage his workload by giving him days off from hitting on some of his pitching days. Those pitching-only days weren\u2019t a regular occurrence when Ohtani was with the Angels, but now Ohtani is also preparing for what\u2019s expected to be a deep postseason run.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers have given Ohtani two pitching-only days already this season, but Roberts said he plans to have Ohtani hit when he pitches against the Astros on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s doable,\u201d Roberts said when asked about Ohtani trying to fix his swing while pitching. \u201cThe bottom line is, there\u2019s no other alternative. He\u2019s going to DH a lot. He\u2019s going to pitch a lot. Now, how best we preserve him and keep him strong and healthy is the question.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ohtani\u2019s search for his usual offensive production will continue at least another day. He drew two walks Monday. And the best contact he made was on a fly out to center field (91.2 mph exit velocity) in the seventh inning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0It was the perfect time for Shohei Ohtani to step up to the plate. The Dodgers\u2019 offense was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300251,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[85853,49644,4472,217,426,6308,423,1049,127046,11443,48,52,51,5562,47,50,49,422,10194,315,127045],"class_list":["post-300250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-alex-freeland","tag-astros","tag-ball","tag-day","tag-dodgers","tag-field","tag-game","tag-hit","tag-hitless-streak","tag-kyle-tucker","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-last-week","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-shohei-ohtani","tag-swing","tag-time","tag-win-monday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}