Ohtani rues ‘regrettable’ inning, takes Game 4 loss
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Alden Gonzalez
LOS ANGELES — After Shohei Ohtani mowed through the middle of the Toronto Blue Jays‘ lineup in the top of the sixth Tuesday, Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior approached him in the dugout and asked how many innings he had left, conscious of the potential toll from the previous game. Ohtani answered affirmatively. “Three more innings,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts recalled him saying, perhaps half-jokingly.
Two batters later, though, he was finished.
One night after setting a postseason record by reaching base nine times in an 18-inning marathon, Ohtani performed as a two-way player in Game 4 of the World Series and was, well, mortal, going hitless in the batter’s box and getting tagged with the loss on the mound.
Ohtani, speaking through an interpreter after a 6-2 loss that evened this best-of-seven series at two games apiece, said he was “able to get on the mound in pretty good condition.” He received intravenous fluid to address leg cramps moments after the Dodgers came away from a 6-hour, 39-minute Game 3 with a walk-off victory, got to bed by roughly 2 a.m. PT and received what he called “quality sleep.”
But it didn’t result in a show-stopping performance, which, given what he did in the pennant clincher — three home runs as a hitter, six scoreless innings and 10 strikeouts as a pitcher — has somehow become the expectation.
“Every time he steps up, I expect great things to happen,” Roberts said, “and maybe unfairly.”
Ohtani drew a walk to start the game, reaching base for the 11th consecutive time but struck out in his next two plate appearances and later grounded out. Through his first six innings as a pitcher, he struck out six batters and gave up only a two-run homer to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. — on a sweeper that leaked out over the plate, which he called “a regrettable pitch.”
When the seventh inning began, the Dodgers trailed by only a run and Ohtani had thrown 90 pitches. Three pitches later, after a single by Daulton Varsho and a 101.7-mph double by Ernie Clement, Roberts turned to his bullpen. The Blue Jays went on to score four runs with Anthony Banda and Blake Treinen on the mound.
“I wanted to go seven,” Ohtani said, “and it was regrettable that I wasn’t able to finish that inning.”
Ohtani’s first postseason as a starting pitcher is officially over now, ending with a 2-1 record, a 3.50 ERA and 25 strikeouts against five walks in 18 innings. If he pitches again, it would be out of the bullpen in Game 6 or a potential Game 7, something he told Japanese reporters he was willing to do.
Ohtani threw his fastball mostly in the 96 to 97 mph range but was able to reach for 98 and 99 mph when he needed to on two-strike counts. Rather than consistently try to throw into the triple digits, Ohtani seemed conscious about picking his spots. On offense, Roberts complimented Ohtani’s “intent” and attributed his lack of success to the quality of the pitches he saw, not his exertions from the night before. The leg cramps that manifested in Monday’s 11th inning did not appear to be an issue. Ohtani credited his catcher, Will Smith, for taking down all 18 innings on Monday night and then catching another nine Tuesday. Overall, he seemed grateful for an incredibly active 27-hour stretch.
“Although we did lose the game,” Ohtani said, “I thought I had a productive experience being able to experience this situation.”
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Adam Rittenberg
LSU defensive coordinator Blake Baker is remaining with the program, coach Lane Kiffin said Friday on X.
Baker, who has led LSU’s defense the past two seasons, interviewed for head coaching vacancies at Tulane and Memphis this week and was a strong candidate, sources said. But he instead will remain with Kiffin, who prioritized retaining Baker, one of the nation’s highest-paid assistants at $2.5 million.
Baker is expected to receive a revised contract and a raise.
Under Baker, the Tigers ranked 15th in scoring defense and 25th nationally in total defense this fall. His retention capped a strong day for LSU, which signed defensive tackle Lamar Brown, ESPN’s No. 1 overall recruit, and defensive tackle Deuce Geralds (No. 37).
Baker, 43, is in his second stint at LSU after coaching the team’s linebackers in 2021. A former Tulane linebacker, he also has held coordinator roles at Louisiana Tech, Miami and Missouri.
Mississippi State defensive coordinator Coleman Hutzler has been informed that he is not returning next season, with the Bulldogs expected to target former head coach Zach Arnett to be the next defensive coordinator, sources told ESPN’s Pete Thamel on Saturday.
The move would be the rare reunion of a former head coach returning to the staff of that team.
Arnett is a proven high-end defensive coordinator in the SEC. In three years as Mississippi State DC (2020-22), his defenses ranked in the top five in the conference in total defense, rushing defense and takeaways.
He took over as coach following the death of Mike Leach in December 2022, but Arnett was fired with two games to play in 2023 after leading the Bulldogs to a 4-6 record that season.
After leaving Mississippi State, Arnett has spent the past two seasons as an analyst at Ole Miss and Florida State.
Hutzler had been the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator since 2024, but Mississippi State has ranked last and second to last in yards per game allowed and points per game allowed the past two seasons.
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Max Olson
Penn State named Iowa State‘s Matt Campbell as its head football coach, the school announced Friday.
The deal, which will go before the compensation committee of the school’s board of trustees for final approval Monday, is for eight years, sources told ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
“Coach Campbell is, without a doubt, the right leader at the right time for Penn State Football,” athletic director Patrick Kraft said in a statement. “He is a stellar coach with a proven track record of success and his values, character and approach to leading student-athletes to success on and off the field align perfectly with the traditions and values of Penn State.”
Campbell, the winningest coach in Iowa State history, met with Penn State officials Thursday night before negotiating a deal Friday. Iowa State quickly moved to hire Washington State coach Jimmy Rogers to replace Campbell.
In its search to replace longtime coach James Franklin, who was fired Oct. 12, Penn State shifted its focus to Campbell after BYU coach Kalani Sitake agreed to a long-term extension Tuesday to remain with the Cougars.
Campbell, a three-time Big 12 Coach of the Year, led the Cyclones for 10 seasons and achieved eight winning seasons, two Big 12 championship game appearances and a Fiesta Bowl victory over Oregon in 2020 for the school’s first top-10 finish.
Campbell, 46, went 72-55 during his decade at Iowa State, becoming its winningest coach last season, and went 35-15 as coach at Toledo from 2011 to 2015.
He will bring strong Midwest ties to the job as a Massillon, Ohio, native who began his college playing career at Pitt before winning three national championships as a player at Division III Mount Union.
This season, Iowa State started 5-0 and climbed as high as No. 14 in the AP poll before a four-game losing streak knocked the team out of the Big 12 title race. The Cyclones rallied with a three-game winning streak in November to go 8-4.
Last year, Iowa State went 11-3 and would have advanced to the College Football Playoff with a victory over Arizona State in the Big 12 title game. The program finished No. 15 in the AP poll after defeating Miami in the Pop-Tarts Bowl.
Campbell and his coaching staff have developed 15 NFL draft picks over the past seven years, including NFL stars Brock Purdy, Breece Hall and David Montgomery. Defensive end Will McDonald IV became the first Cyclones player to be selected in the first round since 1973.
Before Campbell’s arrival, Iowa State hadn’t had a winning season since 2009 and hadn’t played in a Big 12 championship game. The Cyclones won 14 games against AP Top 25 opponents during his tenure.
Campbell had been a serious candidate for high-profile coaching jobs throughout his decade at Iowa State, including the Detroit Lions and USC, but preferred to stay in Ames and continue building a program that had never achieved a 10-win season until last year.
He was earning $5 million per year in total compensation at Iowa State after agreeing to a contract extension through 2032 with the school earlier this year.
Penn State ranked No. 2 in the preseason AP Top 25 and was expected to compete for a national championship in 2025 after reaching the College Football Playoff semifinals last season. Franklin was fired during a three-game losing streak to open Big Ten play that dropped the Nittany Lions out of the Top 25 at 3-3.
Franklin agreed to a five-year deal to become the coach at Virginia Tech on Nov. 17 and took a $9 million settlement with Penn State on the $49 million buyout that he was originally owed upon his firing.
Former Penn State interim coach Terry Smith agreed to a four-year deal to stay on staff and work with Campbell, sources told Thamel, confirming a report by Inside the Lions. Smith is a Penn State graduate who has been a linchpin on the school’s staff for the past 12 seasons. The Nittany Lions won their final three Big Ten games this year to become bowl-eligible at 6-6 under Smith.
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