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The Los Angeles Dodgers, deciding that Shohei Ohtani needs rest if he’s going to help them win their third consecutive World Series title in October, are placing the four-time MVP on the 15-day injured list for the first time since he joined the Dodgers.

“It’s the right thing to do,’’ Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Wednesday night after the Dodgers’ 14-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds, their season-high seventh consecutive victory. “We tried to kick the can as much as we could.’’

Ohtani, who will be eligible to return Sept. 23 with five regular-season games remaining, will be replaced on the roster by prized outfield prospect Josue De Paula, who will primarily be the DH, but also play in the outfield.

“Let’s get (Ohtani's) body feeling well and then slowly ramp back up because now we do have time,’’ Roberts said. “I think that if it were a postseason game tomorrow, he would be in the lineup. So now you’re talking about two weeks, 14 days. I feel that’s substantial, and (he) will be in a much better place than he was today.’’

Ohtani, a two-way player who hasn’t pitched since July 3, has been bothered by left knee soreness and a right biceps strain, which forced him out of the lineup six times in the last seven games.

“Is it going to be 100%?’’ Roberts said. “Probably not. But I do think that with this time that we’re taking now, he’ll be in an adequate spot for the rest of the season and beyond.’’

When the Dodgers are crowned the National League West champions, Shohei Ohtani won’t be with them.

With a 14-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night at Dodgers Stadium, Los Angeles reduced its magic number to win the division to six, making it likely they will clinch the division title on their upcoming two-city, seven-game trip.

Ohtani won’t travel with the team, as he will be placed on the 15-day injured list.

The Dodgers have an 11-game lead over the second-place San Diego Padres, against whom they own the head-to-head tiebreaker, and a 11 ½-game edge over the third-place Arizona Diamondbacks, against whom they don’t.

For the Dodgers, the division title will be their 13th in the last 14 years.

Feasting on inferior competition, the Dodgers head into their week-long tour on a seven-game winning streak. 

Games against soft opponents will continue. The Dodgers on Friday will open a three-game series in Miami against the Marlins. From there, they will go to Cincinnati for a four-game series against the Reds that starts on Monday,

Ohtani didn’t play on Wednesday night for the sixth time in the last seven games and Freddie Freeman was sidelined with a sore knee, but the Dodgers didn’t have any problems disposing of the last-place Reds. 

Yoshinobu Yamamoto reverted to his postseason form from last year, as he limited the Reds to a run and three hits over seven innings. He struck out 10 and walked one.

The Dodgers broke out offensively, as Mookie Betts, Max Muncy, Kiké Hernández and Kyle Tucker homered. 

Betts and Tucker in particular had productive nights, as each of them collected three htis. 

Hernández also doubled and drove in a team-high four runs.

Teoscar Hernández extended his recent hot streak, going 2 for 3 with three runs batted in.

“Obviously, to see Tuck really some some life the last couple nights and Mookie doing what he’s been doing recently, which has been great,” manager Dave Robets said. “Just across the board offensively fantastic.” 

MIAMI — Kodai Senga’s growth in the closer’s role has been noticeable to Mets interim manager Andy Green.

The latest example occurred Tuesday, when Senga concluded the ninth inning by throwing 10 straight forkballs against the Marlins for two strikeouts, giving him his seventh save in as many chances this season.

“I thought it was a great example of recognizing what is really working and what another team is sitting on,” Green said before Wednesday’s 15-14 slugfest at loanDepot park. “They obviously took some good swings on his fastball, which wasn’t a bad thing to start that inning when you have a three-run lead and understand you can pitch to contact a little bit early on.”

Senga allowed one run on two hits before implementing his adjustment.

“Once he recognized there was some danger there, flipping the forkball and winning with that for 10 straight pitches, that is just good game awareness, and I think that is a great thing to see.”

Senga, who struggled this season as a starter before moving to the bullpen, began Wednesday with a 2.03 ERA in his 14 relief appearances since Aug. 1.

He became the closer after Devin Williams was placed on the injured list Aug. 10 with a right shoulder strain.

The right-hander has indicated his preference is to remain a starter.

“He’s mentioned very directly that he wants to start, and we appreciate that directness and love the fact he advocates for what he is passionate about,” Green said. “We love even more the sacrifice he shows for the team to slide into a role we could really use him in and to really excel at it. It’s fun to watch a guy be really successful, and he’s clearly enjoyed the success.”

Jared Young’s discomfort running the bases a night earlier led to Green giving Young the start at DH instead of first base Wednesday.

Young went 2-for-5 with three runs scored.

The Mets have a day off Thursday, and Green’s hope is Young — who fouled a ball off his foot last weekend — will benefit from two straight days off his feet.

Brett Baty started at first base but left the game with left knee pain after running to first base on an RBI single in the second inning.

The Mets began the day as one of only two MLB teams (the Yankees were the other) with 10 players in double digits in homers this season.

Juan Soto, Francisco Lindor, Bo Bichette, Francisco Alvarez, Carson Benge, Luis Robert Jr., Marcus Semien, Tyrone Taylor, Mark Vientos and Baty all had at least 10 homers.

For the last week, the Dodgers have tried to avoid the possibility.

But on Wednesday, the team finally reached a tipping point with Shohei Ohtani’s ongoing left knee and right arm injuries, with manager Dave Roberts announcing he will go on the injured list after he missed six of the club’s last seven games.

The move –– which also prompted the Dodgers to call up top prospect Josue De Paula –– comes as the latest troubling sign about the state of Ohtani’s health, which has faced mounting questions over the last several days.

“It’s the right thing to do,” Roberts said. “We tried to kick the can as much as we could.”

Ohtani initially developed his knee problem in early June, but continued in his full-time two-way role for several weeks afterward.

Then, during a two-way start on July 3, he was removed from the game early as a hitter because of not only knee pain but also right biceps discomfort.

Ohtani has not pitched in a game since then, enduring repeated setbacks in his throwing progression that have dashed his chances of returning to the mound this year.

He had, however, continued to serve as the Dodgers’ everyday designated hitter, initially looking unaffected by his physical ailments as he made a push for his fifth career MVP Award.

Alas, circumstances started to change over the last several weeks. 

In 12 games from Aug. 17 to Sept. 2, Ohtani went 6-for-46 with no home runs, 19 strikeouts and a .494 OPS (the worst mark in a continuous dozen-game stretch in his MLB career). Last Wednesday, he went 0-for-4 with four punchouts for the first time this season.

More alarming that night was how, in his final at-bat that night, the 32-year-old was grimacing after each swing and shaking out his right arm.

That prompted the team to hold Ohtani out of the lineup for four-straight games over the rest of the week, before he returned for an 0-for-3 performance with a walk on Monday.

Initially, the team had hoped Ohtani could remain a regular presence in the lineup moving forward –– albeit with more off days mixed in down the stretch.

That’s why they didn’t place the slugger on the IL initially, not wanting to lose him for the minimum 15-day spell.

Alas, Ohtani missed Tuesday’s game with what Roberts said was “load management,” then was out again Wednesday following another setback physically.

During Monday night’s game, Ohtani felt renewed discomfort in his right arm after a swing, according to Roberts.

“Ultimately, after not playing him for four days and then playing him and not being able to play a day after an off day, it was more just really huddling up and saying, ‘Hey, how are you going to feel on Friday, how are you going to feel on Saturday?’” Roberts said. “Talking to the doctors and training staff, there was not much certainty that he’d be in a much better place.”

Thus, for his first time with the Dodgers, Ohtani is going on the IL.

The Dodgers will be able to backdate the stint to Tuesday. But, that still means Ohtani won’t be eligible to return until Sept. 23, when there will be just five games remaining in the regular season.

“I think [he was] probably disappointed in the sense that he wants to play,” Roberts said of Ohtani’s reaction to the decision. “But I think he realizes it’s the best thing for him, to give him the best chance to be the player he wants to be — we want him to be — in October.”

Indeed, the Dodgers are not only hoping Ohtani’s IL stint will help him progress health-wise, but give him time to “slowly build [him] back up,” as Roberts put it, as he tries to rediscover his superstar swing.

Roberts said Ohtani would likely be shut down from swinging for “a couple days” before resuming live batting practice sessions, and was expected to be ready to return once he is eligible to be activated.

“I think that if it were a postseason game tomorrow, he would be in the lineup,” Roberts said. “Now you’re talking about two weeks, 14 days [of rest and recovery]. I feel that that’s substantial. He’ll be in a much better place than he was today.”

Roberts acknowledged that Ohtani probably won’t get to 100% during his time on the IL.

“But I do think that with this time that we’re taking now, he’ll be in an adequate spot to finish the season,” Roberts added.

Ohtani will not accompany the team on its upcoming road trip to Miami and Cincinnati next week. They can only hope that by the time they get back, he’ll look (and feel) more like his typical self.

“The most important thing is him being as healthy as possible, not compromising his swing,” Roberts said. “[We’ll] kind of bet on that.”

After two tense, well-fought games between these two teams, I fully expected a laugher tonight where one side or the other could fully relax and coast to a victory. It seemed like the natural baseball thing to do to balance out a pair of games decided by two runs or less with a game in which a position player had to pitch. Instead, and thankfully for the fans, we got the trilogy in the series with many of the same dynamics: relatively low-scoring, excellent defensive plays, and late-inning drama. Unfortunately for the D-Backs, they were on the wrong side of each of those phenomenon as the Royals rode one big blast from superstar Bobby Witt Jr to a victory and avoided the home sweep. That result combined with a San Diego sweep over Washington to run their win streak to four means that the D-Backs end the night on the outside looking in of the postseason picture and continue to jockey with Padres for that final Wild Card slot.

Frustratingly, the D-Backs were in the unenviable position of sending out starting pitchers coming off injuries on consecutive nights with the associated, necessary limitations on their range in the game. After Corbin Burnes’ (mostly) successful return to the mound last night, it was Zac Gallen’s turn tonight and it was much of the same as we saw earlier in the year. He was able to throw plenty of strikes (62% of his 68 pitches), but struggled to generate much swing-and-miss, allowed far too many baserunners, and failed to keep the ball in the yard. Altogether, it wasn’t a bad outing and he certainly gave the team a chance to compete – even with a short leash from Torey Lovullo and some poor defense behind him – but any semblance of hope that he would be able to regain the ace-like form he had early in his career can likely be put to bed once and for all. Interestingly, Gallen did display a radically different pitching arsenal by functionally ditching his four-seamer (13% compared to a 37% average on the year) to instead lean on his slider (37% and 22%) and knuckle curve (22% compared to 19%).

The Royals struck first on the backs of consecutive singles from John Rave and Kyle Isbel before a double steal and a poor throw from James McCann to third base allowed the former to score. They added another in the home half of the third when Carter Jensen destroyed a lifeless slider that hung right in the middle of the plate and deposited it into the Kaufmann fountains. After Derek Law continued his strong season in the desert with another scoreless outing, the D-Backs turned to yet another pitcher returning from injury in Michael Soroka for his first relief outing of the year. He successfully saved a desperately depleted bullpen, but made one crucial mistake that was absolutely punished. In his first inning of relief, he gave up a one-out single to Isaac Collins and then walked Jensen on just six pitches ahead of Witt Jr who promptly pounced on the very first pitch he saw and sent it deep into the Kansas City night to give the Royals the lead for good. He rebounded from that debacle of an inning to provide four innings of solid relief work ahead of a much-needed off day tomorrow.

For their part, the Arizona offense did create a few threats throughout the game, but failed to break through on any of their opportunities, including from the very beginning of the game when they put two runners in scoring position with one out but failed to score off an excellent play from third baseman Nick Loftin. Overall, they were a woeful 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and failed to take advantage of nearly any of the scoring chances they had off Royals’ starter David Lynch or the gaggle of relief pitchers that followed. The offense will need to rediscover the magic that led them to such a strong offense earlier in the season if they have any hopes of making the playoffs and then making any noise once there. Maybe a long flight and an off day will help to reset the team on their final homestand of the season.

The Dodgers offense reawakened in a big way on Wednesday, as they completed a three-game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds with a 14-1 victory, extending their winning streak to a season-high seven games.

Both Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Rhett Lowder were able to work around a single baserunner in the first inning, with Yamamoto in particular picking off Sal Stewart after reaching on a two-out single. The Dodgers got two consecutive singles from Teoscar Hernández and Kyle Tucker to begin the bottom of the second before Hunter Feduccia reached on a fielder’s choice to load the bases with no outs. The Reds turned a 4-6-3 double play on a ground ball from Alex Freeland, but Hernández scored on the play giving the Dodgers the first lead of the night.

Will Smith doubled against Lowder in the bottom of the third and Mookie Betts extended the lead to three with his third home run of the homestand.

Yamamoto had faced the minimum over his through his first 10 hitters faced with six strikeouts, as the Stewart single was the only blemish on his night up to that point. Then he ran into the red-hot Elly De La Cruz with one out in the top of the fourth inning, who tattooed a home run for a fifth consecutive game, giving him a career-high 26 home runs and putting Cincinnati on the board.

The Dodgers wasted no time getting that run back, as after Tucker and Feduccia led off the bottom of the fourth, Freeland brought home his first run since being called back up with an RBI double to left-center field. Kiké Hernández swatted the third double of the inning to left-center field, bringing home two, extending the lead to five and knocking Lowder out of the game after just 3 1/3 innings.

A wild pitch from reliever Luis Mey brought home Hernández, and the Dodgers would make it a six-run inning with a two-run single from Teoscar Hernández, making it an eight-run lead. The Reds had to face 10 hitters in the inning before getting their next shot against Yamamoto.

After failing to cash in any runs in the fifth inning, the Dodgers made it a 10-run lead with a two-run home run from Max Muncy, giving the Dodgers their first double-digit lead since the All-Star break. 11 runs were the most runs scored in a home game since the Dodgers scored 12 against the San Diego Padres on July 2.

As for Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the mound, he finished his night with his first quality start of the month of September, finishing with seven innings across 90 pitches, with his three hits being the fewest in any start since allowing just three hits against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Aug. 8. Yamamoto now has five consecutive starts with at least eight strikeouts, racking up 44 over his last 32 2/3 innings, with his 10 strikeouts tying a career-high. With a winning decision on Wednesday, Yamamoto has now set a new career-high in wins with 13.

The Dodgers kept pouring it on Cincinnati against Tony Santillan in the bottom of the seventh inning, as Kiké Hernández blasted a two-run home run to give the Dodgers a 12-run lead. It was Hernández’s first home run since August 19, and it was his first home run of the year against a pitcher not named Kyle Freeland.

Mookie Betts finished Wednesday with a 3-5 performance, and on the nine-game homestand, Betts hit .375 with three home runs and 13 RBI, raising his season OPS from .698 at the start of September all the way to 742. Betts also extended his on-base streak to 18 games.

Teoscar Hernández added a pair of hits in what has been a torrid 10-game hitting streak. Hernández in those 10 games is now hitting .514 with two home runs and 14 RBI, raising his season OPS from .692 entering the final game of August to .761.

Kyle Tucker finished Wednesday with his first multi-hit game since Aug. 19, collecting a double, a single and a home run in the bottom of the eighth to make it a 13-run lead. It’s the first time all season that Tucker has collected multiple home runs in a single homestand.

With their seventh straight win, the Dodgers are now four full games over the Atlanta Braves for the second seed in the National League, still trailing the Milwaukee Brewers by 1 1/2 games for the top spot.

Game particulars

• Home runs— Mookie Betts (19), Max Muncy (27), Kiké Hernández (3), Kyle Tucker (13); Elly De La Cruz (26)
• WP— Yoshinobu Yamamoto (13-8): 7 IP, 3 hits, 1 earned run, 1 walk, 10 strikeouts
• LP— Rhett Lowder (6-10): 3 1/3 IP, 7 hits, 7 earned runs, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts

Up next

The Dodgers are off on Thursday as they venture on a seven-game road trip beginning Friday in Miami against the Marlins (4:10 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA). Starters for both teams have yet to be announced.

With injuries suddenly mounting to their big-league lineup, the Dodgers are turning to one of the best prospects in the sport to help bolster their offense.

Outfielder Josue De Paula is being called up directly from double-A, sources with knowledge of the situation confirmed to The California Post on Wednesday, and will be officially activated on Friday when the Dodgers open a road trip in Miami.

The move, which was first reported by ESPN, comes as the Dodgers plan to place Shohei Ohtani on the injured amid his ongoing left knee and right arm issues, as manager Dave Roberts announced Wednesday night.

Roberts had said pregame that an injured list stint was being considered for Ohtani.

The Dodgers were also without Freddie Freeman on Wednesday because of a right knee problem, but the IL was “absolutely not” on the table for him, according to Roberts.

The promotion of De Paula represents an aggressive move from the Dodgers’ front office, turning to a 21-year-old slugger who is ranked as the sixth-best prospect in baseball by MLB Pipeline.

With the organization’s double-A affiliate in Tulsa this year, De Paula has had the best campaign of his minor-league career, batting .303 with 27 home runs, 101 RBIs, almost as many walks (87) as strikeouts (81) and 31 stolen bases for good measure.

He is also a two-time participant in the MLB Futures Game, and won MVP honors last season after hitting a home run in the All-Star week event.

As a corner outfielder, his defense remains a long-term question mark — though, many in the organization have lauded the improvements he has made this year.

For the Dodgers right now, however, his value will be as another left-handed hitting option, set to get the “lion’s share” of at-bats at designated hitter to replace Ohtani after he missed six of the last seven games managing his injuries.

The Dodgers did have left-handed alternatives in triple-A to consider, from current 40-man rostered players like Ryan Ward and Hyeseong Kim, to another highly-touted corner outfield prospect in James Tibbs III.

But unlike Tibbs, De Paula was already going to have to be added to the 40-man roster this offseason in order to be protected from the Rule 5 draft.

And unlike anyone else in the Dodgers’ system, he has a level of offensive upside that could quickly prove impactful in the majors — prompting him to make the ever-rare jump straight from double-A.

“I think that our player development group is very confident in his ability to conduct an at-bat,” Roberts said. “This is just a good opportunity for him to kind of cut his teeth in the big leagues.”

Top Mets pitching prospect Jonathan Santucci had another strong start for Syracuse, another sign that the young left-hander could be figuring it out in Triple-A.

Wednesday against St. Paul, Santucci allowed one run on five hits (no walks) while striking out six batters across five innings. Santucci struck out two batters in the first before eliminating a runner with an inning-ending double play in the second. The third inning saw Santucci strike out one in a 1-2-3 frame before stranding a runner in the fourth, picking up two more strikeouts in the process.

Santucci's final inning saw his one mistake. After getting the first batter out, Santucci allowed a solo shot to Cody Morissette on a 2-2 slider way up in the zone. After Santucci struck out the next batter, he allowed back-to-back singles but bounced back by getting Emmanuel Rodriguez to ground out to end the threat.

Wednesday's game was the third straight start where Santucci went at least five innings and struck out six batters. It's also the third straight start where Santucci allowed two or fewer runs, bringing his Triple-A ERA to 5.28 after it was a season-high 7.71. 

Santucci started his 2026 season in Double-A Binghamton and saw a lot of success. In 19 starts, he pitched to a 3.57 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP. He also struck out 120 batters across 90.2 innings. His performance the first few months of the season led to a promotion in late July. But the southpaw struggled to adjust to the new level, especially finding the strike zone. Santucci walked at least three batters in each of his first four starts with Syracuse and allowed 14 runs (12 earned) across 14.0 innings in that span.

After his performance Wednesday, Santucci's overall 2026 ERA is now 3.99 and he has struck out 157 batters across 119.2 innings.

Though the Dodgers did not call up an outfielder when active roster limits expanded on September 1, they have decided to call up Josue De Paula, their top prospect, directly from Double-A, per Alden González of ESPN, Fabian Ardaya and Katie Woo of The Athletic, Jack Harris of the California Post, and Maddie Lee of the Los Angeles Times.

De Paula, who was rated the No. 4 prospect in baseball by Baseball America in early August, is hitting .303/.401/.547 this season for Tulsa, with 27 home runs, 37 doubles, and 31 stolen bases this season, and almost as many walks (81) as strikeouts (87). He homered and doubled for Tulsa on Wednesday.

The bat for the 21-year-old De Paula has never been in question, but the issue is whether he’s playablein the outfield. But with news on Wednesday that Shohei Ohtani’s right biceps injury, which kept him out of a sixth game out of the last seven, and is headed for the injured list.

Designated hitter is open for De Paula, and a way for regular playing time. He’ll start at DH on Friday in Miami, manager Dave Roberts told reporters Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium.

But sorting out where De Paula plays is a future puzzle to solve for Dave Roberts. For now, just know the Dodgers are taking a chance on their top prospect being ready for the big leagues, and their most anticipated call-up since Cody Bellinger in 2017.

De Paula, signed as an amateur in 2022, would have been eligible for the Rule 5 Draft this winter, and the Dodgers were going to add him to the 40-man roster in November anyway. This just accelerates the timetable.

Atlanta lost to the Rays again and while they remain in a strong position moving into the playoffs, the offense has been too bad for too long to feel good about this club going into October, especially with the questions that exist around the pitching staff.

Braves News

The Braves shuffled the back of their pitching staff, as Bryce Elder hits the IL.

Atlanta lost again to the Rays, as the offense continues to disappoint.

MLB News

The Giants claimed Duncan Davitt off waivers from Atlanta.

The Yankees are set to put Jazz Chisholm on the IL, bringing up Anthony Volpe in his place.

The Orioles placed Blaze Alexander on the IL, as he has had a solid year in Baltimore.

The Diamondbacks activated pitchers Zac Gallen and Michael Soroka off the 60-day and 15-day ILs, respectively.

Star NFL cornerback Denzel Ward purchased a minority share in the Cleveland Guardians.