ST. LOUIS (AP) — Shohei Ohtani has gone hitless in four straight games, something that hasn't happened in four years.
Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Sunday after a 4-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals that he believes in his star to “come out of it at some point.”
“He certainly has high standards,” Roberts said. “We all do of him. I know he’s frustrated, but you can’t tell from his demeanor."
Ohtani’s 0-for-3 day pushed him to 0 for 14 over his last four games, his longest hitless streak since going 0 for 12 over five games with the Los Angeles Angels from May 24-28, 2022.
Ohtani’s struggles have mirrored those of the team around him. The Dodgers have not homered in six straight games for the first time since going homerless in eight straight from July 10-21, 2014.
Freddie Freeman went 2 for 4 and drove in a run in Sunday’s win that snapped a four-game losing streak in which the Dodgers scored two runs or fewer in every game.
“Offensively, we just haven’t been very good the last week,” Freeman said. “Just call spade a spade sometimes. There’s no way to sugarcoat it. We just haven’t been very good, and we’ve got to be better.”
Ohtani drew a walk in the third inning to snap a streak of ten straight plate appearances without reaching base, and his 12 hitless at bats versus the Cardinals are his most in a single series in his career.
“There’s a little bit of a mechanics part that he’s been talking about, and I thought we kind of figured that out at home,” Roberts said. “This series, I don’t think he felt great, in between a little bit on the pulled grounders, getting beat with the fly balls to the big part of the field, so a little in between, I think. But, safe to say, fair to say that he’ll figure it out soon.”
