Who Gets Crushed
Shohei Ohtani forcefully rebounded from a rough inning on the mound to earn another win for the major league-leading Los Angeles Dodgers, who beat the Minnesota Twins 4-3 on Wednesday night. The scoreboard says one thing; the hierarchy says another. At Target Field, where the Twins announced their first sellout of the season, the people in the stands got a front-row seat to a system where one player’s mistake can become everybody else’s problem, and where the Dodgers’ top-end talent kept the machine moving.
The bottom of the second was ugly. Three hits off Ohtani loaded the bases with one out before he and catcher Dalton Rushing got crossed up on a pitch that escaped the catcher’s glove and zipped toward the backstop to let in a run. Two more scored on Ryan Kreidler’s single that gave the Twins a 3-1 lead. Rushing, the 2022 second-round draft pick who has temporarily taken over as the primary catcher while three-time All-Star Will Smith is on the injured list with neck inflammation, was expecting an off-speed pitch. Ohtani threw a 101 mph fastball, wincing with slumped shoulders as he saw the run come across. Rushing was charged with a passed ball, making one of the three runs against Ohtani unearned.
The Bosses at the Top
Ohtani had eight strikeouts over six innings before yielding to the bullpen, and he helped himself at the plate with an RBI single to spark a three-run third inning that put the Dodgers in front for the rest of the night. Even after the early breakdown, the Dodgers’ structure did what elite structures do: absorb the damage, keep the star centered, and leave the rest to carry the consequences.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “They were just out of sync early, and you could tell. I think both guys were frustrated and trying to get on the same page.” Ohtani, through his interpreter after the game, said, “The in-game flexibility, reading the swings, reading how the hitters are really taking their approach during the game — that’s how I see what adjustment needs to happen. In that sense, I personally realized we just have to be better at being on the same page and communicating throughout the game.”
Rushing said, “Good thing he’s as good as he is and he can take control of the game, but it’s pretty embarrassing. They’ve always got my back. Once again, it’s embarrassing that I need support like that. I’m a grown man, and it’s a pretty tough pill to swallow.” Rushing also went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts and a foul pop out at the plate.
The Cost of Keeping the Machine Running
Ohtani, who has pitched through lingering soreness in his left knee and a blister on his right middle finger this month, has logged quality starts of six or more innings with three or fewer earned runs in 11 of 13 turns. The four-time MVP award winner has also reached base safely in 23 straight road games, batting .381 with 24 RBIs over those contests. Ohtani had an 0.74 ERA over his first 10 starts with Smith as his catcher. Since the injury, over three turns with Rushing behind the plate, Ohtani has a 4.34 ERA.
That gap is the whole story in miniature: when the preferred arrangement is intact, the numbers shine; when the replacement is forced into place because of injury, the strain shows up fast. The Dodgers still won, but the burden of adaptation landed on Rushing, who was left to describe the embarrassment of needing support while Ohtani kept the club ahead.
Ohtani said, “Showing Rush my pitching style I’m capable of, that’s really another way of being able to communicate. In an ideal world, where I want to be is both of us to pitch in and really be able to shine because we have very different talents.” Roberts said, “It’s a work in progress. He wants to do really well and he expects a lot of himself, so when he’s not doing what he expects then he gets frustrated. I think the good thing is he still understands his priority is to serve the pitchers and be behind the plate, but the last few games he’s had a tough go of it.”
The language of “work in progress” and “serve the pitchers” says plenty about where the power sits. The catcher is there to absorb the demands of the pitcher, and when the timing breaks down, the consequences fall downward. The Dodgers’ sweep rolls on, the Twins’ sellout crowd goes home with the same old lesson, and the hierarchy keeps asking the people at the bottom to make it all function.