Shohei Ohtani delivered his best pitching start of the season, going five innings and recording nine strikeouts to earn his first win with the Dodgers. He surrendered a solo home run to Noelvi Marte in the third inning but otherwise had all his pitches working, featuring a curveball he threw 23 times. Rookie catcher Dalton Rushing and Ohtani established a collaborative pitch-calling dynamic, with Rushing ultimately calling the game and expressing comfort with their trust. Rushing added a two-out, two-run single in the fourth after Miguel Rojas was intentionally walked to load the bases, using the move as motivation.
Tonight was a little different than in the past with me and Sho. Shohei was calling every pitch the first few innings and it just so happened I called one pitch. From then on out, he wanted me to call the game. We kind of trusted each other. I made one mistake on the night as far as pitch-calling, gave up a homer, but we learn from those things and move forward. We were very comfortable working with each other tonight.
Yeah, I think just trying to be a little less predictable with the fastball. He figured out the curveball in the first inning, and it was working really well for him. He used it throughout his whole start. It was a big pitch for him tonight.
Every player is looking to deliver. It's the only thing that's on your mind and that's all you can think about. Looking back at the game, it's a baseball move. You walk the guy to get the left-
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