LOS ANGELES – A raucous Saturday night at Dodger Stadium took on an ominous tone after superstar Shohei Ohtani injured his shoulder while sliding into second base on a failed steal attempt in the seventh inning.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani had suffered a subluxation (partial dislocation) of his left shoulder on the play and would go for further testing – but the team was ‘encouraged’ about their designated hitter’s outlook.
‘Once we get the scans we’ll know more, but with his strength and range of motion good, that’s certainly a positive,’ Roberts said after the Dodgers’ 4-2 win in Game 2 of the World Series.
Ohtani stayed down on the ground for a few moments and exited with a trainer holding his arm, which dragged behind him on the ground as he slid to avoid the tag from New York Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres.
‘The whole stadium went silent,’ Dodgers left fielder Teoscar Hernández said.
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Asked about the possibility of Ohtani missing the rest of the series, Roberts said he hadn’t thought that far ahead yet, but is ‘expecting (Ohtani) to be there. I’m expecting him to be in the lineup.’
The Dodgers have a 2-0 series lead as the World Series heads to New York for Game 3 on Monday.
Ohtani, the two-way superstar and only man in major league history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases has been limited simply to hitting duties this season, and had avoided injury, playing in 159 games. He’d drawn a two-out walk in the bottom of the seventh but was thrown out by Yankees catcher Austin Wells.
‘You never like seeing the best player in the game get injured like that,’ Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge said. ‘Hopefully it’s all good news, and we’ll see what happens.’
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