Shohei Ohtani’s numbers at Dodger Stadium after one at-bat included one hit and one baserunning blunder.
After Mookie Betts led off the bottom of the first with a walk Thursday against the Cardinals, Ohtani sent a ball down the right-field line that rolled to the wall.
He rounded first and then curled around second base, too, but the designated hitter didn’t realize that Betts had been held at third.
And that led to the Dodgers having two runners at that base, with Ohtani getting called out and Betts eventually scoring when Freddie Freeman singled six pitches later.
“Really, I just kinda passed by the bag way too quicker than the lead runner,” Ohtani told reporters postgame through an interpreter.
“So I wasn’t able to really pick up [third-base coach] Dino [Ebel] on time. It’s a situation that I haven’t encountered during spring training, so I confirmed with Dino and we’ll make the adjustments.”
Los Angeles cruised to a 7-1 win against the Cardinals, with Ohtani going 2-for-3 with a walk and scoring a run in his home debut with the team he signed a $700 million deal with in the offseason.
That allowed the Dodgers and Dave Roberts to operate with a lineup that included Betts, Ohtani and Freeman — who’ve collectively won four MVP awards prior to all assembling in Los Angeles — at the top of the order, and Thursday they went 5-for-8 with two two homers and three walks.
What to know about Shohei Ohtani’s accusations against his former interpreter
Lawyers representing Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani have accused his now-former interpreter and longtime friend Ippei Mizuhara of “massive theft” in a $4.5 million bombshell.
Mizuhara, who followed the two-time AL MVP from the Angels after he signed a 10-year, $700 million deal this offseason, reportedly accrued massive gambling debts he needed to pay off.
Mizuhara first told ESPN Ohtani offered to pay off the debt and later changed his story, insisting the Japanese star was unaware of the eight-nine wire transfers made from his accounts to an alleged illegal bookmaker.
Ohtani’s camp has “disavowed” Mizuhara’s initial story, per ESPN.
He was fired shortly after the Dodgers’ season opener against the Padres in Seoul, South Korea, and Ohtani has yet to publicly address the situation, though his camp is pushing for a law enforcement investigation amid an IRS probe.
“I never bet on baseball,” Mizuhara told ESPN. “That’s 100%. I knew that rule. … We have a meeting about that in spring training.”
All sides claim Ohtani has no involvement in any gambling.
“I was the only guy who couldn’t hit a homer,” Ohtani said. “But overall, I thought I had a pretty good game today.”
But the backdrop to the Dodgers’ season had drastically changed across the past eight days, when the team’s campaign-opening trip to Seoul, South Korea was overshadowed by a scandal involving interpreter Ippei Mizuhara — who allegedly had $4.5 million in gambling debts and stole from Ohtani to cover the cost.
Ohtani denied knowing Mizuhara’s actions that linked him to an illegal bookmaker, telling reporters in a statement shortly before the stateside regular season started that he never bet on baseball — or other sports — or sent money to the bookmaker to cover the amount that Mizuhara owed.
“Up until a couple of days ago, I did not know this was happening,” Ohtani said Monday in his first public comments since the firing. “Ippei has been stealing money from my account and has told lies.”
