CHICAGO — It’s Sho time again.
Shohei Ohtani’s absence from the Dodgers’ lineup with a sore left knee lasted just one game. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he spoke with Ohtani on Saturday and “he feels good, wants to play,” so he was back in the starting lineup for the second game of the series against the Chicago White Sox.
He hit a home run in his first at-bat.
“Shohei drove it. Training staff drove it,” Roberts said of the decision. “We took him out of the game the other night just for precautionary reasons. Yesterday treated it up. Today he feels great. All the confidence that he can go out there and hit, feel good, not regress at all.
“I think he’s going to go out there and play catch today just to see how he feels playing catch. But as far as the hitting side, we feel good about it.”
Ohtani’s next pitching start is scheduled for Wednesday. Roberts said he doesn’t expect that to be impacted.
“I think we’re full go,” he said. “But I do think once he’s out there playing catch and we see how his knee responds to the pressure, the torque will be some good information.”
That “full go” does not extend to running the bases. Roberts said Ohtani will “absolutely” be told to be measured about how he extends himself on the bases.
“There will be no basestealing,” Roberts said.
Ohtani was pulled from Thursday’s game in Pittsburgh when he felt discomfort in the back of his left knee. He underwent an MRI on Friday in Chicago that showed no structural damage, only inflammation. Roberts said that swelling is gone now.
PITCHING PLAN
The Dodgers don’t expect Ohtani’s knee issue to impact his next pitching start. But their commitment to keeping him on a once-a-week schedule will impact the other starting pitchers.
Eric Lauer will start Monday on five days’ rest. But Justin Wrobleski will move up and pitch on four days’ rest Tuesday so that Ohtani can start Wednesday, backed up to the team’s off day on Thursday.
Wrobleski will be just the second Dodgers pitcher to start on four days’ rest this season. Emmet Sheehan did it once, on May 19 in San Diego – also so that Ohtani could stay on extended rest.
Wrobleski had his own injury issue in Thursday’s game. He was hit in the back of the right leg by a comebacker and suffered a bruised hamstring. It has not affected his between-starts routine.
“Yeah, he’s good,” Roberts said of Wrobleski. “I talked to him yesterday and he’s a little bit sore which is understandable. But he’ll be ready to go on Tuesday.”
Roberts acknowledged that the Dodgers considered using a spot starter to keep everyone in the rotation on at least five days’ rest between starts. River Ryan has now made seven starts for Triple-A Oklahoma City with a 2.81 ERA in his return from Tommy John surgery.
“We thought about it,” Roberts said of a spot starter. “But considering how Wrobo’s start went short (4 ⅔ innings), he feels good after it. We feel the four days’ rest will be fine for him and then where Shohei is at we feel good about just leaving it status quo.”
PROUD DAD
Roberts left the team following Saturday’s game and flew to Northern California where he will attend his daughter Emme’s graduation from Stanford. Bench coach Danny Lehmann will manage the team for Sunday’s road trip finale and Roberts will rejoin the team in Los Angeles on Monday.
“I think that’s one of the good things about the way the world has evolved to where you do some things for mental health or your family and it’s not frowned upon that you care less about your job,” Roberts said. “That should be applicable to everyone. It’s good to feel like I can go and I don’t feel like I’m being judged because I’m going to celebrate my daughter. This is my fourth and last one. I’ve had two high school graduations and two college graduations.
“I encourage my staff to do it. You see it all around baseball. People are doing things for their family and paternity leave, things like that. It’s healthy.”
UP NEXT
Dodgers (RHP Emmet Sheehan, 3-3, 4.70 ERA) at White Sox (RHP Erick Fedde, 1-5, 4.69 ERA), Sunday, 11:10 a.m.,SportsNet LA, 570 AM