ST. LOUIS — Baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani is experiencing his worst offensive stretch in two years, failing to collect a hit across four consecutive games with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Following Sunday’s 4-1 victory against the St. Louis Cardinals, Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts expressed confidence that his standout player will break through the slump eventually.
“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.”
The Japanese sensation finished 0-for-3 on Sunday, extending his hitless run to 14 at-bats across four contests. This marks Ohtani’s most prolonged offensive drought since recording no hits in 12 at-bats during a five-game span with the Los Angeles Angels between May 24-28, 2022.
The offensive woes aren’t limited to Ohtani alone. The entire Dodgers lineup has failed to launch a home run in six consecutive games, their longest power outage since an eight-game stretch without homers from July 10-21, 2014.
First baseman Freddie Freeman provided a bright spot with a 2-for-4 performance and one RBI in Sunday’s victory, which ended a four-game skid during which Los Angeles managed just two runs or fewer in each contest.
“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 managed to draw a walk during the third inning, breaking a string of ten consecutive plate appearances without reaching base safely. His 12 hitless at-bats against the Cardinals represent the most he’s gone without a hit in any single series throughout his major league 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.”
