After almost two years away from the mound, Shohei Ohtani made his long-awaited pitching return on Monday evening to start the series opener against the Padres. Jogging out with Michael Bublé’s “Feeling Good” playing in the background, he received a huge ovation from the fans. His last MLB appearance on the mound was on August 22, 2023, against the Cincinnati Reds, when he retired due to arm fatigue after just 1.1 innings pitched.
Ohtani Allows One Run on Pitching Return
The two-way superstar allowed back-to-back singles to Fernando Tatis Jr. and Luis Arráez before Manny Machado hit a sacrifice fly to earn Tatis Jr. a run. Prior to that, he probably should have had a strikeout on Machado, who was ruled to have checked his swing on Ohtani’s 1-2 sweeper. Ohtani threw 28 pitches — 16 for strikes — hitting 100.2 mph with his fourth seamer. He averaged 96.8 mph on nine fastballs. In the second inning, he was replaced by Anthony Banda.
Rather than entering the dugout, Ohtani put on his batting gloves near the railing and walked to the on-deck circle to get ready to lead off the bottom of the inning. He struck out against Padres starter Dylan Cease. Ohtani is the first National League player to start a game as a pitcher and also bat in the leadoff spot since Alvin Dark of the New York Giants in 1953.
In the third inning, Ohtani tied the score with an RBI double to left-center. He added another two-out hit as the Dodgers took a 6-2 lead in the fourth. Machado hit a leadoff homer in the sixth to reduce the deficit. There was no more scoring after that, though, as the National League West leaders won the game 6-3.
Ippei Mizuhara Reports to US Prison
On the same day that Ohtani made his pitching debut for the Dodgers, his former interpreter reported to federal prison in Pennsylvania. In February, Ippei Mizuhara was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison for stealing close to $17 million from the Dodgers two-way global superstar to repay illegal gambling debts. He was also ordered to pay $18 million in restitution, with the majority going to Ohtani and $1.1 million to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Mizuhara is being held in a low-security prison in Allenwood. As he’s not a US citizen, he’s likely to be deported to Japan after completing his sentence. Between November 2021 and March 2024, the ex-interpreter misappropriated $16.59 million from one of Ohtani’s accounts. He also stole baseball cards with the intention of reselling them and submitted a false tax return for 2022. Prosecutors claimed his motivation was “greed” and “not addiction.”
