Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani (biceps) exits early, won't play Sat. - ESPN

LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani threw a season-high 110 pitches in the Los Angeles Dodgers' come-from-behind victory Friday night against the San Diego Padres, then exited from the lineup with the score still close in the seventh inning. The reason: a right biceps that tightened up on a swing in the bottom of the sixth.

Ohtani, speaking through an interpreter, said he dealt with a similar ailment «a couple months ago.»

«It went away relatively quickly,» Ohtani added, «so I expect that to happen again.»

The Dodgers will nonetheless keep Ohtani out of the lineup Saturday to afford him some extra recovery time.

Ohtani noticeably struggled with his command while pitching on nine days' rest, throwing his first six pitches for balls and working around nine baserunners across six innings. But he struck out nine, allowed just three runs, threw his fastball in the triple digits deep into his outing and kept the deficit manageable enough for Teoscar Hernández to deliver the game-winning grand slam in the seventh, giving the Dodgers a 4-3 win and handing the Padres their seventh straight loss.

Three batters after Hernández's homer sent 49,578 fans into a frenzy, Miguel Rojas came off the bench to pinch hit for Ohtani, a move Dodgers manager Dave Roberts described as precautionary. After the game, Ohtani had an ice pack on his left knee, which has required maintenance in recent weeks, but Roberts said it «didn't bother him» while throwing his most pitches since 2023.

Roberts also downplayed the severity of the biceps injury, which seemed to bother Ohtani only while swinging.

«He's dealt with it before,» Roberts said. «He's a quick healer and finds a way to get back. But I do think that for us to read and react and hear what his body is