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Roughly four hours before first pitch Monday night, Shohei Ohtani sat at his locker in the Dodger Stadium clubhouse and prepared for his biggest game of the season.

First, the reigning MVP unwrapped the black compression sleeve he wears when pitching, and pulled it over his prized right arm. Then, he grabbed his bat and a pair of hitting gloves and headed toward the cages.

On this day, each piece of equipment was needed.

For the first time in almost two years, the two-way star would be playing both ways again.

In the Dodgers’ 6-3 win against the San Diego Padres on Monday, Ohtani made his long-awaited return as a pitcher from a September 2023 Tommy John operation, taking the mound in a Dodgers uniform for the first time as the club’s starter while also continuing to serve as their leadoff hitter in the lineup.

Ohtani’s pitching outing was brief, lasting just one inning and 28 pitches. He yielded one run on two hits (a pair of flare singles from Fernando Tatis Jr. and Luis Arraez) and a sacrifice fly from Manny Machado. And while he touched 100 mph with his fastball, his form was far from flawless.

Ohtani’s command looked rusty, the right-hander missing the zone 12 times including one wild pitch. While he got three swing-and-misses, he failed to finish any of his five two-strike counts with a strikeout (though Machado nearly went around on a two-strike sweeper, needing a generous check-swing call from an umpire before lifting his sac fly).

When Ohtani finally retired the side, it felt more like a sigh of relief, with his climbing pitch count already leading to action in the bullpen.

Yet, the occasion was momentous nonetheless; marking the first time since August 2023 that Ohtani had pitched in a major-league game, and showing that even after a second career Tommy John surgery there’s still plenty of life left in his arm.

“To take this on — the physical [toll], talent-wise, the psychology of it — this is a big undertaking,” manager Dave Roberts said. “As people say, he’s a unicorn.”

Read more:Hernández: Cowardly Dodgers remain silent as ICE raids terrorize their fans

Initially, it appeared the Dodgers would have to wait at least another month before seeing Ohtani pitch in a game. Despite some optimism before spring training that Ohtani could resume pitching in April or May, the team had been slow-playing his pitching program ever since the start of the regular season, long ago targeting some time after the All-Star break to add him into their rotation.

“This is such a unique scenario,” general manager Brandon Gomes said. “[We were] making sure we're not doing anything to put the offensive side in jeopardy.”

In the last couple weeks, however, that calculus started to change.

First, Ohtani impressed coaches and executives in three different live batting practice sessions, working his way up to three innings and 44 pitches in his most recent one in San Diego last week.

Then, in meetings with team officials, Ohtani expressed some concern with continuing to build up in more simulated pregame sessions, relaying the toll it took on his body to pitch several innings in an afternoon before ramping up to DH later the same night.

“The getting hot, throwing a live at 1:30, 2:00, cooling down, coming back, getting ready to lead off the game — I can't even imagine how taxing that is,” said Gomes, a former big league reliever. “There is no playbook for this. So it had to be an ongoing conversation, and making sure that Shohei is the one driving this conversation."

In recent days, Ohtani began to direct such conversations in a different direction; especially after the Dodgers indicated that, thanks to his status as a two-way player who wouldn’t take up a pitching roster spot, they were open to bringing him back as a pitcher even if he would initially only throw one or two innings.

“It [was] more of like, ‘Well, I don’t think there’s anything else to do. I’m ready to go. What else do I need to do to get back on a major-league mound?’” Roberts recalled of Ohtani’s message to the team. “You try to treat him like a normal pitcher and a normal ramp-up or buildup. But if [he only needs to be built up for] an inning or two, it’s, ‘Well, I’ve already done that.’”

Thus came the pivotal question.

“‘Can I pitch now?’” Roberts recalled Ohtani asking.

The answer, the Dodgers decided over the last two days, was yes, slotting Ohtani in as an opener in front of bulkman Ben Casparius for Monday’s visit from the Padres.

“It got to the point where [it was], ‘Hey, feels like we should take that next step,’” Gomes said, “and almost look to finish the rehab at the major league level, because of the taxing nature of what he was doing.”

Ohtani’s return to pitching caused a stir around Chavez Ravine. Fans flocked down the left-field line when he emerged around 6:30 p.m. to begin warming up in the outfield. As he threw his pregame bullpen session, more spectators leaned over the railing to watch him. Behind the mound, teammates Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tony Gonsolin gazed on, as well.

In pregame introductions, Ohtani was announced twice: Both as the starting pitcher and designated hitter (MLB’s rules for two-way players, which were adopted a few years ago in the wake of Ohtani’s rise to stardom, allow for such a distinction in order to let Ohtani keep hitting once he leaves the mound).

And after Ohtani completed the top of the first, he never even stepped foot in the dugout, instead receiving his batting equipment from a ball boy at the top step before going to the plate to lead off the bottom half of the frame.

As a hitter, Ohtani struck out in his first at-bat, but then tied the score with an RBI double in the third before contributing to a five-run rally against Padres starter Dylan Cease in the fourth with an RBI single.

Moving forward, Ohtani will likely continue to serve as an opener roughly once per week; building up to two innings, then three, and so on until he’s able to handle a normal starter’s workload.

The exact plan will depend on how he responds to his return to two-way duties, with the Dodgers remaining wary of pushing him too hard on the mound before the stretch run of the season.

“As we said before, this is a unique situation, and making sure that he's in a good place and we're just taking it small bites along the way as far as what comes next is incredibly important,” Gomes said. “At each step, we'll have those discussions and make sure that that is the guiding light, to make sure that he's feeling as good as possible come October."

Still, for one night, one inning of watching Ohtani pitch was more than enough.

“We saw it from the other side, from afar, when he was with the Angels,” Roberts said. “So now, I think I got the best seat in the house to watch this guy start and then take an at-bat. This is bananas. So I’m thrilled.”

Read more:Hernández: How Japan media track down Ohtani's home-run balls

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The Yankees’ offensive funk continues as they are shut out for the second-straight game, wasting a brilliant start from Clarke Schmidt, falling to the Los Angeles Angels 1-0 in 11 innings on Monday night in The Bronx.

The numbers are brutal for Yankee batters: 1-for-18 with runners in scoring position (the lone knock an infield hit), left 12 men on base, and have now been kept scoreless for the last 20 innings. Over a five-game stretch, New York has scored just five runs over their last 49 innings.

With a fourth straight defeat amid a brutal stretch at the plate, the Yanks are now 42-29 and 21-13 at home. The Angels improved to 34-37 on the year.

Here are the takeaways...

- Schmidt allowed a pair of singles right up the middle, the second by Mike Trout, to give the visitors a scoring chance with one out in the first. After a 3-2 pop-out to first, Zach Neto caught the Yanks napping and swiped third with Schmidt standing on the rubber. But the righty blew a 96 mph fastball on the outside corner past Jorge Soler to end the threat.

Schmidt took advantage of the weak Angels batters and had a streak of 16-straight retired (starting with those two down in the first) before Nolan Schanuel blooped a two-out single to left in the sixth. Trout put a charge into one, but Trent Grisham ranged to the right-center gap to make the grab just before the warning track.

The righty got his fifth 1-2-3 inning to close the seventh on just 87 pitches, and he got the ball in the eighth. He needed nine offerings for the first two outs, but Aaron Judge came up empty with a dive on a sinking line drive for a two-out triple by the Angels’ Christian Moore, a Brooklyn native in his fourth big league game.

Moore’s first career hit ended Schmidt’s night after 7.2 innings, the first time he went more than six innings since he had eight scoreless frames in April 2024. Fernando Cruz hung a splitter, but Neto swung through it to end the inning.

- After Cruz out of the bullpen, Devin Williams got the top half of the ninth in a scoreless game, allowed a one-out infield single to Trout and a two-out single to Soler to make the Yankee Stadium faithful sweat before retiring Logan O'Hoppe with a nice play by Volpe up the middle.

In the 10th, Jonathan Loaisiga needed just 12 pitches for a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts, leaving the ghost runners stranded. Loaisiga needed one pitch to get Neto out on a bad bunt, but Schanuel hooked a soft liner down the third base line for an RBI double. Aaron Boone walked Trout intentionally, and Taylor Ward worked a walk on a full count. But Loaisiga knuckled down to get two soft liners to leave 'em loaded.

- Down 1-0 in the bottom of the 11th with the ghost runner at second, LA manager Ron Washington walked Judge intentionally for the second time of the game to put the winning run on first. Cody Bellinger’s flyout to the warning track in right got the tying run to third, but against the drawn-in infield, Jasson Dominguez's broken bat looper to second saw Paul Goldschmidt cut down at the plate. Down to their final out, Jazz Chisholm Jr. reached on an infield single to second to load the bases.

The Angels brought in Hunter Strickland to face Anthony Volpe, but on the first pitch, he bounced out to third, rolling over on a slider away, to end the game.

- The Yanks had a chance in the first when Ben Rice lofted a single off the end of the bat into center with one down and Judge, coming off a horrendous series in Boston, followed with a rocketed single (109.7 mph) to left. But Bellinger tapped out to second and Giancarlo Stanton, in his first at-bat of the season, hit it hard (101.5 mph), but for an easy 5-3 putout. The three first-inning groundouts were expected, as Angels starter Jose Soriano entered the night with a 67.4 ground ball rate (99th percentile in MLB). 

In seven innings against Soriano, the Yanks hit nine balls with exit velocities of 100 mph or higher, but couldn’t break through as they went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left six on base. He finished with six hits and a walk allowed and six strikeouts.

- The big coring chances after the first: Chisholm roped a line drive (110.4 mph) on the ground that got into the right-center gap for a leadoff double in the second, but advanced no further. He also bounced into a 4-6-3 double play to end the fourth after Stanton notched his first hit of the year, smoking a 3-2 pitch 111.1 mph through the left side of the infield.

Chisholm cracked a single to start the seventh, going with a Soriano pitch on the outside corner. He moved to second on a Volpe sacrifice bunt, but Austin Wells went down swinging on a high 99 mph fastball and DJ LeMahieu grounded out to second.

With two down in the fifth, LeMahieu worked a walk and Grisham singled up the middle, but Rice waved at a knuckle-curve to end the inning. Making the start at first base, Rice was 1-for-3 with two strikeouts.

- Stanton led off the home half of the ninth and rocketed a double (102.9 mph) off Kenley Jansen into the left field corner on a ball that was smashed past the third baseman. With one out and pinch-runner Jasson Dominguez running on the pitch, Volpe's grounder to third saw Luis Rengifo get the ball and tag out Dominguez in one motion. Volpe would steal second on the first pitch to Wells, but he went down swinging on an eye-level 96 mph sinker to send the game to extra innings.

- The Yanks had tough luck in the 10th, after LeMahieu struck out, Grisham drove one to center (101.7 mph) for an out and Goldschmidt (in his second at-bat after pinch-hitting for Rice) just missed ending the game with a 396-foot drive (104.3 mph). It would have been gone in four parks.

-  Judge walloped the first pitch he saw his second time up (110.7 mph, 401 feet), but LA center fielder Jo Adell ranged back and caught the ball on the warning track. The 24-degree launch angle meant the slugger had just a loud, laser beam out despite the .990 xBA. He finished the day 1-for-3 with two intentional walks.

The reigning MVP is now 3-for-20 in his last six games with two solo home runs. His average has gone from .396 to .377. His base hit did give him 100 on the season, the first player to the century mark.

- Bellinger went hitless in five at-bats, and he is now mired in a 4-for-29 funk over his last seven games.

Game MVP: Clarke Schmidt

Schmidt did enough to be a winner, delivering 7.2 scoreless innings, allowing just four hits and no walks with three strikeouts on 97 pitches (64 strikes). He has now pitched 18.1 straight innings of scoreless baseball, lowering his ERA to 3.16.

Highlights

Aaron Judge is the first player in MLB to reach 100 hits this season pic.twitter.com/XoJlDgROak

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) June 16, 2025

Giancarlo Stanton with his first hit of the season pic.twitter.com/juABbdQuZD

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) June 17, 2025

What's next

The Yanks and Angels are right back in action on Tuesday night with a 7:05 p.m. first pitch.

Right-hander Will Warren (4.84 ERA, 1.365 WHIP in 63 innings) will make his 15th start of the season. He will look to carry over from his last outing against Kansas City, no runs on four hits over 5.2 innings.

The visitors hand the ball to veteran right-hander Kyle Hendricks (5.20 ERA, 1.324 WHIP in 71 innings) for his 14th start of the season.

Shohei Ohtani makes Dodgers pitching debut. Here's how he did vs. Padres originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

When Shohei Ohtani stepped onto the mound at Dodger Stadium on Monday night, it was more than just a moment, more than just an average opener, it was history, and the return of the unicorn whose only comparison in MLB history is Babe Ruth.

The ballpark buzzed with electricity and nearly every fan was in their seat ahead of first pitch. That’s something that hadn’t been seen since Game 1 of the 2024 World Series against the New York Yankees.

Cameras clicked, hearts thumped, and 56,000 sellout fans packed the Chavez Ravine stands, holding their breath as baseball’s unicorn took the mound for the first time since August 23, 2023, a span of 663 days.

Ohtani’s debut wasn’t perfect, but it also could have gone a lot worse. After not pitching in nearly two years, the Japanese right-hander clearly showed signs of rust and lack of command in his first big league action of the season. 

Ohtani threw 28 pitches in the first inning, with 16 strikes and 12 balls. 

The first batter he faced was Fernando Tatis Jr., and after working the count full, the Padres’ leadoff man hit a bloop single to centerfield on a 99 MPH fastball from Ohtani. 

One throw later, Ohtani’s pitch went to the backstop allowing Tatis Jr. to advance to second. Luis Arraez would eventually hit a single to centerfield putting runers on the corners with no outs. 

But Ohtani worked his way out of the jam. He got Machado to hit a sac fly to center that scored Tatis Jr. on a bang-bang play at the plate. 

He got a groundout from Gavin Sheets thanks to a nice diving play at second base by Tommy Edman, and then got Xander Bogaerts to ground out to third base to end the inning. 

Ohtani’s final line was one inning pitched, with two hits allowed, one earned run, no walks and no strikeouts. His fastest pitch of the night reached triple-digits, a whopping 100 MPH, a good sign that Ohtani is fully recovered from his second Tommy John surgery.

Just one inning. But this wasn’t about numbers. This was about a man doing something no one else alive can do. A two-way superstar, surgically rebuilt, returning from his second Tommy John surgery with the weight of a city—and arguably the entire baseball world—on his shoulders.

He led off the bottom of the first inning and struck out against Padres’ ace Dylan Cease, much to the chagrin of the sold out crowd, but they already witnessed what they came to see: Ohtani back on the mound, pitching for the first time in Dodger blue.

It had been less than 24 hours since the Dodgers dropped the bombshell: Ohtani would pitch Monday. In minutes, ticket prices exploded on the secondary market. A $30 bleacher seat became a $300 golden ticket. Parking lots filled early. Batting practice was a full-house affair. Even the Padres paused to watch him warm up.

The results weren’t perfect, but if there were doubts—about his health, his command, his readiness—they were silenced like a mic drop at center stage. This wasn’t just a warm-up inning. It was a statement. The Dodgers’ $700 million man showed that even after two Tommy Johns, even after nearly two years off the mound, he still has the stuff that turns All-Stars into punchlines.

Ohtani’s return marks a new chapter—not just for him, but for the Dodgers, Major League Baseball, and fans across the globe. His presence on the mound, and at the plate, brings a different gravity to the game. A sense that you’re witnessing something that shouldn’t be possible. Like watching Da Vinci paint with both hands at once.

He’s not back to full form yet. Patience will be needed as he builds back up to full strength. One inning at a time, one start at a time. But what he gave us Monday night was a glimpse of the magic. A reminder. A promise.

Shohei Ohtani is a pitcher again.

And the world just got a little more fun.

Kurtz proclaims A's have ‘a lot of season left' after walk-off homer originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The Athletics aren’t ruling out a turnaround just yet.

After Nick Kurtz blasted a two-run, walk-off homer to defeat the first-place Houston Astros 3-1 on Monday at Sutter Health Park, the A’s rookie first baseman was ecstatic to have extended their win streak to four games.

“Oh, absolutely,” Kurtz said on “A’s Cast” after the win when Chris Townsend asked if the A’s, with their slew of young stars, have discussed their ability to right the ship this season.

“A lot of season left. A lot of baseball to go. This season is nowhere near over, so we’re just looking to win every single day.”

Kurtz returned to the A’s lineup last Monday after a stint on the 10-day injured list with a strained left hip flexor, and since has recorded five hits, two home runs, four RBI and two runs scored. His two homers came in the ninth inning of back-to-back wins, first in the A’s 3-2 win over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday and then to end Monday night’s game.

Kurtz became the fifth-youngest player in A’s franchise history to hit a walk-off homer, per MLB’s Sarah Langs, making the feat all the more extraordinary.

“I mean, that’s unbelievable,” Kurtz told Townsend and “A’s Cast” co-host Tony Kemp of his two-day offensive onslaught. “I can’t really even put it into words, but glad to get it done for the guys tonight and try to keep that winning streak going. That’s all that matters.”

The A’s top prospect is up to six home runs on the 2025 MLB season since being called up on April 21 and is beginning to find his confidence at the plate — something manager Mark Kotsay certainly is noticing.

“We knew that [Kurtz] can have an impact and be a middle-of-the-order bat,” Kotsay told reporters after the game. “… Everyone wants to put these guys that have success in Triple-A right in the middle of the order and test it out. And I think the progression for him has been slowly moving up in the order — you saw tonight, he was in the five hole. And I think he’s getting a lot more comfortable.

“The at-bats are looking better, and the results are obviously showing up, and tonight was a big, big swing. It felt great for him. You can see there’s more confidence. You can see him kind of, in some form, starting to be a leader in the clubhouse.”

Kurtz is just one of many talented young players who have stepped up this season for the A’s, and with every win, it’s clear they believe they can overcome the recent bout of losing that stifled their hot start to the year. Though they sit 12 games out of first place in the AL West and eight games back from a wild-card spot at 30-44, Kurtz is right — there is plenty of season left.