Shohei Ohtani injured his shoulder sliding into second base in the seventh inning of Game 2 of the World Series.
The potentially damaging blow to the Los Angeles Dodgers dampened their 4-2 victory Saturday as they took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series against the New York Yankees.
Ohtani was caught stealing second base to end the inning. He laid on the ground in obvious pain and was slow to get up.
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Ohtani used his left hand to brace his impact with the ground as he slid. According to MLB.com, he could be heard on the FOX broadcast saying in Japanese that the injury was to his left shoulder, before being escorted off the field by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and an athletic trainer.
“Not only the dugout, but the whole stadium went silent,” Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernández said. “Hopefully he’s OK and the day off (Sunday) will help him get off the field.”
After the game, Roberts confirmed that Ohtani suffered a subluxation of his shoulder and will undergo an MRI to determine the extent of the injury.
“The strength is great,” Roberts said. “The range of motion is good. That’s certainly a positive.
“I’m expecting him to be in the lineup,” the manager added.
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The MRI figures to reveal more about how the injury will affect Ohtani, the Dodgers’ designated hitter and the favorite for the National League MVP award, for the remainder of the series.
The Dodgers led 4-1 at the time Ohtani was hurt, but the Yankees rallied in the ninth inning against Los Angeles pitcher Blake Treinen.
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Treinen replaced Michael Kopech needing three outs to record the save. Juan Soto immediately singled and, with one out, came around to score on an RBI single by Giancarlo Stanton to give New York its second run.
Anthony Rizzo walked to load the bases, but Treinen came back to strike out Anthony Volpe.
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Alex Vesia was summoned from the bullpen to record the game’s final out, and he retired Jose Trevino on a fly ball on the only pitch he threw, ending the game.
The victory moved the Dodgers halfway to their first championship in four years, and left the Yankees desperate for a win in Game 3 Monday at Yankee Stadium.
Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto surrendered just one hit in 6.1 innings, a solo home run to Soto for the Yankees’ first run.
Hernández, Tommy Edman, and Freddie Freeman hit home runs for the Dodgers. Freeman received a standing ovation from the announced crowd of 52,725 one day after he hit the first walkoff grand slam in World Series history.
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