​The ending wasn’t nearly as bright as the night had promised with the opening swing. It turns out Shohei Ohtani’s ailing knee is still causing him plenty of discomfort, though he managed to appear as the Dodgers’ designated hitter despite the setback. He didn’t pitch Friday in the 9-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, having been scratched from the mound because of “continued irritation in his left knee.”
Yet that didn’t stop the two-way star from contributing at the plate. Three pitches into his first at-bat, he turned around a left-handed All-Star Eduardo Rodriguez and sent a line drive the other way for a leadoff homer that traveled 381 feet to left. It was a reassuring moment, a reminder of Ohtani’s power even as his knee issues persist. The home run was his 21st of the season, marking his third in the last four games and his 10th since the knee began causing trouble on June 10. It also came with a sense of relief for the Dodgers, who could have used more of that presence in the lineup on a night when their pitching and defense struggled.
The knee problem isn’t minor. After days of dealing with the issue, Ohtani is scheduled to have the knee drained on Sunday and will likely receive a pain-relieving injection afterward. That course of treatment means he will miss the All-Star Game, and it also shaped Friday’s bullpen game for Los Angeles, which yielded disappointing results.
Dodger manager Dave Roberts downplayed the concern about Ohtani’s status, suggesting that if this were October, Ohtani would be on the mound. Even in midsummer, Roberts said, the star looked strong enough to keep taking at-bats, a sentiment echoed by the leadoff homer that underscored the optimism surrounding his health. Ohtani, despite the injury, remained a factor on the field, and his ability to connect for power early in the game offered a glimmer of hope.
The Dodgers still felt the absence of Ohtani’s arm Friday as they dropped the opening game of this series against Arizona. The relief corps didn’t help the cause, with rough performances from most of the bullpen. The opener, Kyle Hurt, yielded two runs in the first inning on three singles and a walk. Arizona then put together two-run rallies in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings, as Will Klein, Brock Stewart, and Edgardo Henriquez combined to allow only two hits but issued four walks between them. The defense didn’t do the pitchers any favors, either, contributing to the struggles in the field.
Stewart’s two-run homer allowed by No. 9 hitter Tim Tawa in the fourth broke a 2-2 tie and represented one of the night’s low points, just as Henriquez, who came in with a runner on second in the fifth, immediately allowed that runner to score with a balk and a wild pitch. Rodriguez, for his part, settled down after a shaky start for Arizona, providing a reminder of why the matchup was so intriguing, even as the night’s results went against Los Angeles.
In the end, Ohtani’s early power gave Dodgers fans hope that his knee would hold up enough to provide impactful at-bats, even as the team faced a frustrating loss and the looming reality of medical procedures aimed at alleviating the knee pain. The night capped a half-season full of promising moments and persistent questions about his health, the kind of dichotomy that has defined Ohtani’s campaign and kept fans hopeful for what the second half of the year might still offer.