LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani could no longer hide his physical discomfort. The Los Angeles Dodgers superstar shook his bothersome right arm as he returned to the bat rack after his fourth strikeout of the night, peeled off his arm sleeve and trudged down the tunnel to the clubhouse before the final out of Wednesday night’s 8-6 extra-inning loss against the St. Louis Cardinals was recorded.Ohtani is hurting, enough now that the Dodgers can no longer ignore it.“Tonight was kind of the tip of the iceberg,” manager Dave Roberts said of his star, whose every limp and wince has become a major talking point for the reigning back-to-back World Series champions.“I’ve seen it over the last couple weeks, where he hasn’t been who he is.”Everything for the Dodgers starts with Ohtani, whose health is now the most pressing question for a club that has played middling baseball for two months. The four-time MVP has not pitched in a game since July and has clearly been battling left knee inflammation and occasional flare-ups of right biceps discomfort for months. Yet he’s remained in the lineup.That might change. Roberts said he plans to talk to Ohtani and the Dodgers’ training staff to gauge what is best for Ohtani going forward. Roberts downplayed the idea of shutting down Ohtani completely and placing him on the injured list, calling it “unlikely” while leaving open the possibility that his stance could change. A day off could be in play, at the very least, though Roberts conceded even an IL stint would not necessarily guarantee Ohtani can get back to 100 percent this season.“I know he feels that he needs to post and be in the lineup,” Roberts said. “(That) if he’s upright, he should play. I respect that. But if he’s feeling the way that visibly looks, then really not helping anyone.”