The Los Angeles Dodgers improved to 4-1 on the season with a 4-1 win over the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday.
The game saw the Dodgers bounce back after losing their first game of the season a day earlier in a 4-2 defeat to the same Guardians ballclub.
Shohei Ohtani returned to the mound for his first pitching appearance of the season, delivering six scoreless innings while allowing just one hit. Ohtani struck out six batters and walked three, throwing 87 pitches.
The Dodgers' designated hitter on Tuesday, Ohtani also contributed at the plate, finishing 1-for-3 with two walks as he balanced his responsibilities as both pitcher and hitter in the same game.
© Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
But one moment during the Dodgers' win and Ohtani's pitching performance quickly stood out and became viral as he appeared to forget he was due up to bat after completing an inning on the mound.
After finishing the fifth inning, Ohtani walked calmly toward the dugout before realizing he was set to lead off the next inning. He quickly shifted gears, removing his glove and preparing to hit as part of his routine.
The sequence was captured and shared online, with a clip posted by the MLB account drawing nearly 1,000,000 views on X by Wednesday morning.
The right-hander has now thrown 22.2 consecutive scoreless innings in the regular season dating back to 2025.
“When you watch him go about his work every single day,” Max Muncy said about Ohtani's approach to pitching, “he’s really bought into everything with pitching, his mechanics, how to attack hitters. He just focuses on it so much. You can really, really tell that he loves it.
“I expect nothing short of almost a Cy Young out of him.”
The Dodgers will close their series against the Guardians on Wednesday before traveling to face the Washington Nationals starting on Friday.
