Ohtani shines with 7 scoreless innings against Giants

LOS ANGELES -- Even while only carrying out one-way duties, Shohei Ohtani remained extraordinary. Solely pitching and not hitting for the fourth time in seven starts, Ohtani continued his domination on the mound this season. He struck out eight Giants across seven scoreless innings on 105 pitches, scattering four hits and two walks in a 4-0 win on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium.

By reaching 44 innings on the season, Ohtani qualified for the ERA leaderboard and sat atop it, boasting an impressive 0.82 mark. This is the second-lowest ERA by a Dodgers pitcher through his first seven starts of a season since the earned run became an official statistic in the National League in 1912. Only Fernando Valenzuela had a lower ERA, with 0.29 after seven starts in 1981.

The Dodgers came into Wednesday's game in dire need of a win, having dropped four straight games by at least four runs. In this context, Ohtani proved to be the right man on the mound with his team needing a stopper, despite L.A. having gone only 2-4 through his first six starts.

By snapping their season-high-tying four-game losing streak, the Dodgers also secured their first win with Ohtani starting since April 15. A contributing factor to this was the fact that the Dodgers entered the game averaging 2.9 runs per game with Ohtani on the mound, the lowest for any L.A. starter.

Ohtani enjoyed early run support and capitalized on it in his seventh start of the season, where he did not face significant stress until his final inning. After one out, Ohtani gave up back-to-back hits to Willy Adames and Matt Chapman. Drew Gilbert then launched a ball to center at 100.4 mph off the bat, but Andy Pages tracked it down and made the catch at the warning track. Adames had broken for third on contact and was rounding the bag when Pages secured the ball, resulting in an easy throw to second base to double him off and end the inning.