Why Dodgers didn't let Shohei Ohtani hit during bad loss to Marlins

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Why Dodgers didn't let Shohei Ohtani hit during bad loss to Marlins originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Los Angeles Dodgers could only muster a lone run in a loss to the Miami Marlins on Tuesday night.

And while their potent lineup should be able to do better than that, it certainly wasn't helped by the absence of Shohei Ohtani's bat.

Ohtani started on the mound, but he didn't hit in his usual leadoff spot. The Dodgers kept him out of the order.

On the mound, Ohtani struck out nine and allowed two runs (one earned) in six innings, but he got the 'L' in his record from a 2-1 defeat.

It was the second time in five starts this season that Ohtani only pitched and didn't hit, and it's a pattern worth monitoring going forward.

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Why didn't Shohei Ohtani hit?​

Ohtani was held out of the lineup for energy reasons.

This was the first time this season Ohtani was pitching on five days of rest, rather than six or more.

The Dodgers also have an early afternoon getaway game on Wednesday, so he wouldn't have long between his pitching outing and being right back in the lineup.

"I think the main thing is to do right by Shohei," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters after the game. "Even without him tonight in the lineup, we should’ve won the game. I feel good about it. I’d do the same thing again.”

The reality is that Ohtani's routine is already unlike anything else in baseball. It's fair for the Dodgers to hold him back just a tad and rest him every once in a while.

It's just different, because it's not something he's generally needed in the past. And it does, ever so slightly, impact his ability to win games. He still has more influence on winning than anyone else in the sport, but on Tuesday night, as just a pitcher, the Dodgers weren't enough without his bat, too.

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