Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani goes 0-for-3, takes loss in Game 4 - ESPN

LOS ANGELES — After Shohei Ohtani mowed through the middle of the Toronto Blue Jays' lineup in the top of the sixth Tuesday, Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior approached him in the dugout and asked how many innings he had left, conscious of the potential toll from the previous game. Ohtani answered affirmatively. «Three more innings,» Dodgers manager Dave Roberts recalled him saying, perhaps half-jokingly.

Two batters later, though, he was finished.

One night after setting a postseason record by reaching base nine times in an 18-inning marathon, Ohtani performed as a two-way player in Game 4 of the World Series and was, well, mortal, going hitless in the batter's box and getting tagged with the loss on the mound.

Ohtani, speaking through an interpreter after a 6-2 loss that evened this best-of-seven series at two games apiece, said he was «able to get on the mound in pretty good condition.» He received intravenous fluid to address leg cramps moments after the Dodgers came away from a 6-hour, 39-minute Game 3 with a walk-off victory, got to bed by roughly 2 a.m. PT and received what he called «quality sleep.» But it didn't translate into a show-stopping performance, which, given what he did in the pennant clincher — three home runs as a hitter, six scoreless innings and 10 strikeouts as a pitcher — has somehow become the expectation.

«Every time he steps up, I expect great things to happen,» Roberts said, «and maybe unfairly.»

Ohtani drew a walk to start the game, reaching base for the 11th consecutive time but struck out in his next two plate appearances and later grounded out. Through his first six innings as a pitcher, he struck out six batters and gave up only a two-run homer to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. — on a sweeper