Shohei Ohtani broke a 52-plate appearance drought with a home run against the San Francisco Giants, reaching base safely in three of five plate appearances. He was not included in the Dodgers’ lineup for the next two games, and manager Dave Roberts believed the rest would help Ohtani reset physically without disrupting his mechanics. Roberts said the home run, including squaring it up and hitting the ball the other way, was a sign of progress. Ohtani’s prolonged hitless stretch was described as the most uncomfortable he has looked. Max Muncy said the team’s slump leads players to try to do something big instead of staying simple, and he called for simplifying approaches in each at-bat.
"“I do. I don't think sitting for two days is going to get him off of what he was doing. I really do,” Roberts began. “He's very in tune with his body, his mechanics. The goal is to kind of let his body reset. I do think the three at-bats he took [Tuesday] night, squaring it up and hitting the homer the other way, is on the right track. He was pretty excited about that one.”"
"Roberts said Ohtani's prolonged hitless streak was the most uncomfortable the 31-year-old has looked. The Dodgers' skipper recently expressed that he believed Ohtani was trying to swing his way out of the slump instead of playing within himself."
"“The hard thing about when you're going through a funk like this as a team is you get in these situations and you want to do something big instead of just keeping it simple,” Muncy said. “I think all of us, up and down, are kind of in that spot right now. We just need to simplify things and not try to do too much when it's our turn in the box.”"
Read at Dodger Blue
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