LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani was all business at the start of what is actually a mid-week respite.
Used as a pitcher only for the fourth time this season, Ohtani showed pin-point focus with seven scoreless innings that led the Dodgers to a 4-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday night to end a four-game losing streak.
Not only does Ohtani’s lower-maintenance week include a day when was asked to concentrate on just one of his two disciplines, he will open Thursday’s series finale on the bench but will be available as a pinch hitter.
The schedule is Manager Dave Roberts’ way of getting his two-way star at least a bit of downtime after seeing some “telling” signs that he needed a break.
There were no signs of fatigue over Ohtani’s season-high 105 pitches, except, perhaps, a pair of singles during his last inning of work.
The outing was the third of at least six innings when Ohtani did not allow a run and the fourth when he did not allow an earned run. He lowered his ERA to a near spotless 0.82 and remained firmly in the early National League Cy Young Award talk after hitting at least 54 home runs in each of the past two seasons.
With his bat stuck in the dugout rack for the night, it gave others the chance to show off their power. Santiago Espinal took advantage of a rare start at third base to hit a home run in the third inning, his first as a Dodger.
Batting in Ohtani’s leadoff spot, Mookie Betts followed Espinal with his first home run since returning from an oblique injury on Monday. Betts, who had been out of action for more than a month, now has three home runs this season.
More infrequent contributors carried a previously stagnant offense forward. Miguel Rojas ended an 0-for-22 downturn with a fourth-inning single.
In his first game in three seasons as the Dodgers designated hitter, Teoscar Hernandez had a fourth-inning RBI single and Alex Call turned a start in left field into his own fourth-inning RBI on a sacrifice fly for a 4-0 lead.
A rare moment of trouble on the mound for Ohtani came in the seventh inning, when Willy Adames and Matt Chapman hit back-to-back one-out singles. After Ohtani received a visit from pitching coach Mark Prior, Drew Gilbert hit a line drive toward the gap in left-center.
Center fielder Andy Pages not only tracked down the ball to make the catch on the warning track, he threw to second base for the inning-ending double play after Adames had rounded third and was nowhere near making it back to the bag in time.
Ohtani remained on the infield after the play and clapped the outside of his glove as he pointed it in the direction of Pages.
Tanner Scott gave up a lone single in the eighth inning and Kyle Hurt gave up a double in the ninth as the staff recorded its fourth shutout and second against the Giants.
More to come on this story.