Shohei Ohtani's ERA has doubled in last two starts as Rays bat around against him

After he was virtually untouchable in his first nine appearances of the season, Shohei Ohtani, the pitcher, is mired in a two-start funk on the mound.

Ohtani, who gave up one or no runs in eight of his first nine starts, gave up more runs in one inning — four — on Wednesday, June 17 than he did in his first five starts. And now he has a pair of nagging physical issues to monitor.

Making his first start since sitting out a game as a hitter due to left knee inflammation, Ohtani was peppered for four singles, a double and a walk as the Tampa Bay Rays batted around in the fifth inning.

After the inning, cameras caught small traces of blood on his pants, from the middle finger on his pitching hand, although Ohtani came out to pitch a scoreless sixth and even served as pinch-hitter in the bottom of the inning.

Despite his struggles he ended up the winning pitcher, after Freddie Freeman clubbed a go-ahead two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth, erasing a deficit and giving the Dodgers a 5-4 lead that the bullpen preserved.

L.A.'s relievers pitched nine scoreless innings in the three-game sweep of the Rays.

Yet the good vibes were at least partially tempered by the notion Ohtani - now 7-2 - hasn't been as indomitable of late as he was in the season's first third. He was sanguine about his dual health concerns.

"It’s just part of the game. Not a lot of situations where you feel 100% so I took it as that,' Ohtani told reporters via translator Will Ireton. "It was big we were able to win a game like this."

The bad inning Wednesday was fueled in part by his tardiness covering first base on a groundball to Freeman, who glanced momentarily toward second, freezing Ohtani in his journey off the mound. Soon, a 2-0 Dodgers lead was a 4-2 deficit.

And after Ohtani's six innings of seven-hit, four-run, one-walk, five-strikeout work against the Rays, his ERA stood at 1.47. Elite, to be sure, but when he took the mound in Pittsburgh one week ago, it was at an absurd 0.74.

Ohtani allowed a season-high 10 baserunners and gave up a season-high three earned runs to the Pirates in that game and a day later, was removed from the game due to left knee inflammation.

Ohtani sat out just one game as DH, and manager Dave Roberts said he remained on track to make his assignment against the Rays. That he did, though it went south after four innings, and now the finger issue may be one to further monitor for the Dodgers.

"My every intention was to start today’s game.," says Ohtani. "Didn’t really feel like that was not going to be an option not to pitch."

Roberts felt confident sending Ohtani out for the sixth despite his rough fifth inning and the knee and finger issues, citing a desire to avoid lower-leverage relievers before aligning for the seventh, eighth and ninth.

"He still always finds a way to manage innings and make pitches when he needs to," says Roberts. "I think he’s still kind of working through delivery stuff with the knee."

Roberts said that "right now," Ohtani would be fine to make his next start one week from now, and says they will revisit his use of a topical skin adhesive on the middle finger. As for the past two starts?

"I don’t think anyone expected him," says Roberts, "to never give up any runs."