Ohtani threw 70 pitches, 44 for strikes, and reached 101.5 mph with his four-seam fastball against Orioles third baseman Emmanuel Rivera. The 31-year-old right-hander allowed three hits and a walk while striking out five, but the slumping Dodgers lost 2-1 in the opener of a three-game series.
Los Angeles dropped its fourth straight but remained two games up in the NL West over skidding San Diego.
Dodgers teammate Freddie Freeman appreciated Ohtani’s effort on short notice.
“You could see he’s exhausted after an inning or two,” Freeman said. “It’s muggy. He’s still not healthy. He’s still sick. He gave it his all. It’s amazing what he’s doing. He’s throwing 100, 101 mph. We will be saying this every year about Shohei Ohtani until he retires. He’s a unicorn. He pitched great. Everything he had in that fourth inning to get out of it.”
Ohtani was scratched from his previous turn Wednesday due to a cough, and manager Dave Roberts projected the five-time All-Star would pitch fewer than five innings Friday.
“I was able to get my high-intensity catch play in yesterday so I felt pretty good chiming in today,” Ohtani said through an interpreter. “I was contacted around 2 o’clock and was told if I could potentially start today.
“I actually felt really good coming into the game today. Probably the worst I felt was game one and game two in Pittsburgh. I started to feel a lot better my last day in Pittsburgh.”
The two-way superstar threw five innings of two-hit ball his last time out on Aug. 27, allowing one run with nine strikeouts for his first win of the season in a 5-1 decision over the Cincinnati Reds.
Roberts saw Ohtani’s pitch count rising in the fourth and decided to go get him.
“I just felt that the pitch count was high,” Roberts said. “Initially, I was thinking four [innings] and 60 [pitches] for him. He was north of that. Even leading up to the fourth inning there was a lot of stress and a lot of high-velocity pitches. For me, I’m not going to risk him just to get another hitter where we have a guy that’s fresh that I felt needs to be able to get those lefties out. If it was a normal situation where it wasn’t short notice, then I would’ve let him get that hitter. We will have time to push him [later this season].”
Glasnow felt discomfort late Thursday night when the team plane landed. The back issue cropped up when he arrived at the ballpark and the right-hander is day-to-day, Roberts said.
“I think it’s just more of trusting the player and also knowing that he wants to be out there and feeling like we got ahead of it early,” Roberts said. “It’s not something that we got to a point where he’s hurt. It’s back stiffness. We feel like to not take this start will allow him to be able to start hopefully early next week.”
Ohtani batted leadoff Friday as the designated hitter again, and Roberts said the three-time MVP wanted to be a critical piece to ending the club’s slide.
“Shohei, to his credit, wants to pick us up,” Roberts said. “I really admire him for that.”
All-Star catcher Will Smith still has some swelling in his right hand and did not play. Roberts believes Smith will have to play through the bone bruise for the rest of the season.
ST. LOUIS — Jordan Binnington set a franchise record for St. Louis on Tuesday night, and he is looking forward to having a little fun with the milestone.
The 32-year-old Binnington played in his 348th game in a 3-2 win over Calgary, passing Mike Liut for most games played by a goaltender in franchise history.
Liut, who spent five-plus seasons with the Blues before he was traded to Hartford in February 1985, is Binnington’s agent. The new record holder plans to let Liut know who’s on top now.
“Maybe I’ll send him a text tonight just for fun,” Binnington said. “It’s cool how it’s working out like this. He’s a big legend here and he’s in the Blues Hall of Fame.
“He’s someone I look up to and he’s been a big part of my career. It’s cool how life works like that.”
Binnington, a third-round pick in the 2011 draft, has spent his entire career with St. Louis. He became the franchise wins leader with his 152nd victory in 2024, also passing Liut.
“I’m truly honored and humbled,” Binnington said. “We’ve had some good teams here and some good players. I just keep my head down and doing my best.
“It’s cool moments like these to have a night like this where we got a nice win, a much-needed win. We played a good game. It’s special.”
Binnington, who led St. Louis to the franchise’s only Stanley Cup championship in 2019, registered 38 saves in the victory over the Flames. It was his fourth win in 12 games this season.
It was a much different outcome than his previous start.
Binnington was pulled in the second period of last week’s 6-1 loss at Washington. He surrendered four goals on 15 shots, including Alex Ovechkin’s 900th career goal.
“I’m having fun,” Binnington said. “You’ve got to play for the love of the game and why you started. I enjoy these moments, trying to close out a game here at home. I felt the crowd. It’s good to enjoy these moments.”
The Blues held a 3-0 lead before Calgary scored two goals in 29 seconds in the second period.
Calgary peppered Binnington with 31 shots in the last two periods.
“As a goalie, sometimes you like that. You stay in the game,” Binnington said. “Giving up two late in the second was not what we were looking for.
“We regrouped and we found a way to get it done. It was fun game back and forth. I think it’s only going to get better.”
Matthews, who did not play in the third period, took a hit into the sideboards from behind by Bruins defenseman Nikita Zadorov midway through the second period. Though Zadorov took a roughing call in the third period, he was not penalized for the hit on Matthews.
“I think it’s a penalty, personally,” Toronto coach Craig Berube. “But I’m not the referee. I don’t like it. I don’t like the hit. He was in a vulnerable position.”
Berube did not have an update on Matthews, who has nine goals and 14 points this season, after the loss.
“I don’t know exactly,” he said. “I can’t give you a timeline or how serious it is right now. I’m not sure when he hurt it, to be honest with you.”
Anthony Stolarz started in goal for Toronto and gave up three first-period goals on 11 shots and was replaced for the second period by Dennis Hildeby, who had 19 stops. The team said Stolarz has an upper-body injury, but Berube didn’t believe it to be “serious.” Berube added, “I think he’ll be fine.”
All told, it was a night to forget for the Maple Leafs, who have lost three in a row. Steven Lorentz, Bobby McMann and Oliver Ekman-Larsson also scored for Toronto, which was swept in a quick two-game home-and-home set with Boston.
The news was much better for the home team. David Pastrnak scored twice to move past 400 goals for his career, and added an assist, as the rebuilding Bruins won their seventh consecutive game.
Pastrnak’s goal 49 seconds into the second period was the 400th of his career and gave the Bruins a 4-1 lead. He added a power-play goal at 9:48 of the third. He is the sixth player to score 400 or more goals in a Bruins jersey, and is now one goal behind fifth-place Rick Middleton.
Steeves’ goal was his first as a Bruin after four years in the Toronto organization.
RALEIGH, N.C. — Carolina Hurricanes rookie defenseman Charles-Alexis Legault had surgery to repair multiple torn extensor tendons in his right hand after getting cut by a skate blade during a game over the weekend in Toronto.
General manager Eric Tulsky announced Tuesday that the operation was completed on Monday by Dr. Harrison Tuttle at Raleigh Orthopaedic.
Legault’s hand was sliced by one of Nick Robertson‘s skates during a scrum at the end of the first period, while the Maple Leafs forward was prone on the ice following a hit.
The team put Legault on injured reserve and said he was expected to miss three to four months. The Hurricanes in a statement thanked the Leafs’ medical staff for swift and decisive assistance in triage care of the injury.
Legault, 22, played in his first eight NHL games this season as injuries piled up on the blue line for Carolina.