PHOENIX — Shohei Ohtani’s 0-2 curveball with one out in the fifth inning buckled the knees of Arizona’s Ryan Waldschmidt as it plopped from the sky to the zone for a called strike three.Will Smith’s mitt hardly moved. Waldschmidt shook his head as he retreated back to the dugout. And Ohtani, who seemingly knew from the release that he had racked up another punchout, flashed a thumbs up to his catcher as he circled the mound.After the way he performed Wednesday night, two thumbs up would be more appropriate.In his third consecutive two-way start, Ohtani hurled his third scoreless performance in his last four appearances, posting six innings of two-hit ball with six strikeouts in the Dodgers’ 7-0 thumping of the Diamondbacks. He also went 3-for-4 at the plate and reached base safely five times. He raised his average to .301 and lowered his ERA to a league-best 0.74.“He’s the best player that’s ever walked this earth,” Smith said after the win.
Another scoreless outing for Shohei Ohtani!
He’s allowed just 1 ER across 24 IP over his last 4 starts 👀 pic.twitter.com/G7M5JAe8UM
— MLB (@MLB) June 4, 2026Ohtani spent most of May frustrated over command issues. He reached a boiling point in his previous start, when he walked four and hit a batter against the Colorado Rockies, but didn’t allow a hit. But the lack of command didn’t stop him from allowing just three earned runs over 25 innings in May. It hasn’t stopped opposing hitters from slashing a feeble .144/.224/.211 against him this season. He yanked a couple of pitches early in his start Wednesday — including two to leadoff hitter Geraldo Perdomo to start his night — but overall, both he and Smith felt the command had remarkably improved.“Today was definitely a lot better than last time,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. “Hard to say if today was really good, just have to look back and review it, but I could tell for sure it was better than last time.”
