Dave Roberts described it as an easy decision. <\/p>\n
If only it hadn\u2019t come with such disastrous consequences.<\/p>\n
In the middle of the fifth inning Tuesday night, Shohei Ohtani returned to the Dodgers<\/a>\u2019 dugout after a clean inning of work on the mound. Waiting for him at the top step was manager Dave Roberts, wanting to ask how he felt after only his second five-inning start of the season.<\/p>\n With any other pitcher, what happened next would have been simple.<\/p>\n Over his five innings against the Philadelphia Phillies, Ohtani had not given up a hit. He had thrown only 68 pitches. And he was flashing the kind of dominance that would have made a no-hitter feel like a real possibility.<\/p>\n With any other pitcher, Roberts would have extended the leash.<\/p>\n Ohtani, however, is not like any other pitcher.<\/p>\n He is a two-way star, coming off a second career Tommy John surgery, who has been managed with kid gloves and bubblewrap in his return to pitching duties this year. He started his comeback by pitching one inning, then two, then so on until he built up to five. Weeks ago, the team \u2014 in consultation with team doctors, Ohtani\u2019s agent and the reigning MVP himself \u2014 decided to avoid pushing him past the five-inning mark until at least October.<\/p>\n His health, both on the bump and at the plate, remains the priority.<\/p>\n Thus, while Ohtani told Roberts he still felt good, Roberts said he never had any thought of sending him out for the sixth. His question, he later explained, was only to ascertain information for future decision-making over Ohtani\u2019s workload. As far as Tuesday was concerned? <\/p>\n \u201cHe wasn\u2019t gonna go back out,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n By not sending Ohtani back out, of course, the Dodgers rolled the dice with their ever-faulty bullpen. And in one of the group\u2019s worst performances this year, they yielded nine runs over the next four innings in a gut-punch of a 9-6 defeat.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been very steadfast in every situation as far as innings for [Ohtani\u2019s] usage \u2014 from one inning to two innings to three to four to five. We haven\u2019t deviated from that,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n \u201cI was trying to get his pulse for going forward, where he\u2019s at, continuing to go to the sixth inning. And he says, \u2018Feel OK.\u2019 So that was good. But I\u2019m not gonna have a plan for five innings, and then he pitches well and say, \u2018Hey, now you\u2019re gonna go six innings.\u2019 He\u2019s too important. And if something happens, then that\u2019s on me for changing it, and we haven\u2019t done that all year.\u201d<\/p>\n After pulling Ohtani with a four-run lead, the Dodgers watched their relief corps melt down in predictable, reminiscent fashion. Justin Wrobleski gave up five consecutive hits with one out in the sixth, including a three-run home run to Brandon Marsh that broke open the inning. Edgardo Henriquez made matters worse, replacing Wrobleski \u2014 amid a chorus of boos directed at Roberts \u2014 later in the inning only to give up another long ball to Max Kepler.<\/p>\n By the time it was over, the Phillies had scored six runs to take the lead. And though the Dodgers would battle back to tie the score in the eighth, the bullpen faltered again in the ninth, when Blake Treinen gave up a decisive three-run, two-out home run to Rafael March\u00e1n in the Phillies\u2019 eventual 9-6 win<\/a>.<\/p>\n