Ohtani Dominates Giants with Seven Shutout Innings, Eyes Cy Young

Shohei Ohtani delivered another dominant pitching performance Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium, tossing seven shutout innings against the San Francisco Giants in a 4-0 Los Angeles Dodgers victory.

Ohtani allowed four hits and two walks while striking out eight. The outing lowered his ERA to 0.82 through mid-May. The Dodgers have played 43 of 162 games.

Manager Dave Roberts praised Ohtani after the game. "Like I've said for a long time, he's a different person when he's pitching," Roberts said. "I think he wants to win the Cy Young. I think that that helps the Dodgers, too, in 2026. When he's pitching, I just sort of let him go and…he's in a zone."

Santiago Espinal, who hit a home run to give Los Angeles the lead, said, "When he's pitching, everybody expects a Cy Young. When he's hitting, everybody expects an MVP and all that stuff. That's what he showed tonight. It’s just Cy Young-caliber."

Ohtani joined the Dodgers before the 2024 season and won back-to-back World Series championships. He has won three straight Most Valuable Player awards and became the second player with four MVPs, matching Barry Bonds. He earned Rookie of the Year in 2018 with the Los Angeles Angels, made five straight All-Star teams, won four Silver Sluggers and six straight All-MLB first teams.

In 2024, Ohtani hit 54 home runs with 59 steals and batted .310 with a .390 on-base percentage and .646 slugging percentage, producing 79 runs above average per FanGraphs. In 2025, he hit 55 home runs, a career high, while posting a 2.87 ERA and 1.90 FIP with 62 strikeouts in 47 innings and 1.9 wins above replacement in his return to the mound.

A Cy Young would make Ohtani the first to win an MVP as both hitter and pitcher, the first with multiple MVPs and a Cy Young. Eleven pitchers have won both in the same season, but none a second MVP.

Other National League pitchers have strong starts this 2026 season. Defending Cy Young winner Paul Skenes has a 1.98 ERA after 1.97 in 2025. Christopher Sanchez has been excellent again, and Jacob Misiorowski has struck out over 14 per nine innings.