Ohtani will make his next start as pitcher on Monday night and is expected to go three innings again. This time, Dustin May will follow him.
As the second half begins, the Dodgers are still not ready to loosen the reins on Shohei Ohtani’s pitching work. But they are giving him a new partner.
Ohtani’s next start as a pitcher will come Monday night against the Minnesota Twins. ‘Piggybacking’ with him this time will be Dustin May. Ben Casparius and Emmet Sheehan filled that role for Ohtani’s first five starts. Casparius has returned to a bullpen role. Sheehan has moved into the starting rotation.
“Dustin has done it before so it’s really not going to be that big a deal for him,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
The move does not necessarily signal a demotion for May, who has career-highs in ERA (4.96) and WHIP (1.35) but it’s a way to lighten his workload in his comeback season. May is second on the team to Yoshinobu Yamamoto in starts (17) and innings pitched (94⅓). Both are far and away career-highs for the oft-injured May.
“Yeah, I mean, we’ve already eclipsed probably where we would have expected at this point in time,” Roberts said. “So then to curtail, save – whatever way you want to kind of frame it – a little bit here and there should be a benefit to Dustin, too.”
In his last start before the All-Star break, Ohtani went three innings and threw 36 pitches against the San Francisco Giants, both season highs. But the slow pace of his buildup will continue. Roberts said Ohtani is expected to throw three innings on Monday, maybe increasing to four innings in his next two outings after that.
