Shohei Ohtani leaves pitching start due to cramps

CINCINNATI -- Shohei Ohtani left the mound with medical training staff during the fourth inning of the Los Angeles Dodgers' game with the host Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night.

The Dodgers later announced that Ohtani left his pitching start to cramps. Ohtani did remain in the game as a designated hitter.

Ohtani departed after walking Tyler Stephenson and throwing six straight balls in the bottom of the fourth. Ohtani, who had a second Tommy John surgery on his right elbow in September 2023, was making his seventh start of the season and had reached the fourth inning for the first time this season.

Ohtani threw three balls, including consecutive wild pitches to Spencer Steer, before staff came out to see him and quickly removed him from the mound.

However, the Dodgers did not take him out of the lineup. The move did not pay dividends as the designated hitter went 0-for-5 with a strikeout. Los Angeles fell 5-2 to the Reds.

The right-hander was facing Cincinnati for the first time since Aug. 23, 2023, when he pitched just 1 1/3 innings in the first game of a doubleheader while with the Los Angeles Angels. A month later, he had surgery to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right arm.

--Field Level Media