Shohei Ohtani Playing Through Hamstring Trouble

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ recent offensive struggles continued with a 3-1 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday in a game where the team recorded just five hits.

Shohei Ohtani accounted for one of them with a triple in the top of the sixth. He made it to third with relative ease despite not running at full speed, which called his health into question.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani has been dealing with a left hamstring contusion that he suffered last week after being hit in the leg by a pickoff throw, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:

After the game, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani has been playing with a left hamstring contusion suffered when he was hit in the leg by a pickoff throw during one of the games on last week’s homestand.

Roberts confirmed that Ohtani’s injury is merely a contusion and not a strain:

“He got hit when he was on first base by a throw over. Hit him in the [left] hamstring,” Roberts said. “That’s where it started. The good thing is it wasn’t a strain. It was a contusion we’re just trying to manage.”

Roberts does not expect Ohtani to miss any time and said he will be cautious in managing his hamstring:

“Our advice to him is just be smart with it,” Roberts said. “I think he was just gonna leg out a double and the ball just didn’t get in (from the right field corner) so he just kept on running. It’s more of managing the hamstring. But today was better than yesterday.

“We need him in there. So we didn’t want him to push it.”

Ohtani may be temporarily limited on the basepaths by his hamstring contusion, but it is not enough to keep him out of the lineup. The 29-year-old has been vital to the Dodgers’ success this season as he is hitting a stellar .338/.406/.628 with 17 doubles, 13 home runs and 35 RBI in 52 games.

Ohtani, like many of his teammates, has cooled off a bit over the past week as he is just 6-for-his-last-28. L.A. is 3-4 during that span, having dropped four consecutive games for the first time this season.

Shohei Ohtani ‘bonding’ with Dodgers hitting coaches

Roberts recently praised Ohtani for showing a willingness to improve on the margins, which has resulted in him spending more time with Dodgers hitting coaches Aaron Bates and Robert Van Scoyoc.