The Los Angeles Dodgers star was back in the lineup for Saturday’s game against the Chicago White Sox, batting leadoff and serving as the club’s designated hitter.
Ohtani left Thursday’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the seventh inning due to left knee inflammation — a move manager Dave Roberts said was precautionary.
The four-time MVP was then absent from Los Angeles’s lineup in Friday’s series opener against the White Sox and underwent imaging, which came back clean.
“He’s doing fine today,” Roberts said before Friday’s matchup in Chicago. “I think that we got some pictures. There was no findings. It’s just the normal wear and tear. I thought initially it was a hamstring, it was the knee. So it just kind of got upset, swelled up a little bit.”
Ohtani, 31, is batting .305 with 13 homers and 40 RBIs in 67 games for the NL West leaders. On the mound, the reigning NL MVP is 6-2 with a 1.06 ERA in 11 starts.
He remains scheduled to make his next pitching start on Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Ohtani had surgery on his left knee in September 2019. Roberts said the swelling is in the back of the knee.
“That’s where a lot of the swelling with the knee kind of like builds,” Roberts said. “But again his range of motion today is good and so if it was another time in the season he’d be in there tonight.”
— with files from the Associated Press
