Shohei Ohtani returns to the lineup as Dodgers fall to Padres

LOS ANGELES – Shohei Ohtani was back in the Dodgers’ lineup Wednesday night.

The Dodgers just couldn’t give him much to work with.

Ohtani returned from the injured list for the first time since Sept. 7, going 1-for-4 with a walk, two strikeouts and a long flyout as the Dodgers fell 5-1 to the San Diego Padres at Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium.

Sep 23, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) strikes out in the ninth inning against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium.

Sep 23, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) strikes out in the ninth inning against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium.

The loss dropped the Dodgers to 97-61 and ensured them, they would not clinch a postseason bye Wednesday night.

For Ohtani, the box score was hardly the headline. After missing more than two weeks, the Dodgers were encouraged by what they saw from him in his return.

“He looked good, at-bat quality good,” Dave Roberts said. “There wasn’t any chase. I thought he hit the ball hard in his first at-bat, just missed a homer in that other at-bat. Took a walk, and so it was good. It’s been a while since he played in a game. It just felt like he wasn’t sped up at all. I think he came out of it pretty well.”

Ohtani singled in his first at-bat before striking out twice, drawing a walk and sending a deep fly ball into the outfield.

Roberts came away particularly encouraged by Ohtani’s physical condition.

“I think tonight showed that he’s in a good spot physically,” Roberts said.

The Dodgers needed more than encouraging at-bats, however. They collected 10 hits and left 11 runners on base, repeatedly putting themselves in position to make the game competitive without delivering the big hit.

Their biggest opportunity came in the fourth inning.

With the bases loaded and nobody out, Tommy Edman brought home the Dodgers’ only run with a sacrifice fly, giving him 41 RBI on the season. But Max Muncy and Edman followed with outs, and Ohtani then struck out on a full-count pitch from Padres reliever David Morgan.

Just like that, the Dodgers’ best chance to blow the game open had disappeared.

They finished the night with only one run despite having plenty of traffic on the bases.

“Just trying to take one good at-bat at a time,” Will Smith said after going 1-for-2 with three walks.

There were positives scattered throughout the lineup.

Teoscar Hernández, Kyle Tucker and Andy Pages, the Dodgers’ middle of the lineup hitters,  accounted for eight of the team’s 10 hits.

Pages was particularly productive, going 3-for-4 with two singles and a double in just his second game since returning from the injured list. He went 0-for-2 in his return Tuesday night.

It was also the 13th time this season Pages has recorded at least three hits in a game.

“Just continue to do what he’s doing,” Roberts said. “I thought the swing decisions were great. He thought some hits. I thought up and down the lineup, we took good at-bats as far as seeing a lot of pitches. We just couldn’t get those hits when we needed to. But as far as kind of conducting at-bats, I thought it was good, and Andy was right at the top.”

While Ohtani was shaking off the rust, Yoshinobu Yamamoto was making his final start before the postseason.

The right-hander delivered six innings, allowing five hits, four runs, two earned, and a walk while striking out four. He threw 88 pitches, 63 for strikes, and was charged with a home run and a hit batter.

His final line was solid in volume, but the two damaging innings ultimately proved costly.

Yamamoto hit the leadoff batter in the Padres’ first big inning, and Manny Machado followed with a home run. Later, another two-run inning included a missed opportunity to record an out that could have limited the damage.

“Yoshi was good,” Roberts said. “I thought, you know, the hit batsman to lead off that inning came back to bite us, and then obviously Manny hits the homer, and then, you know, that next inning was the other two-run inning. To not get an out right there, it was a big deal, and it just kind of, we got out of it, but still damage done. We just couldn’t run beyond.”

Yamamoto finished his regular season having worked through a long season and now turns his attention toward October.

“Now we’re getting into October, so I’d like to live up to the high expectations,” Yamamoto said.

He also acknowledged there were still things to clean up before the Dodgers begin their postseason run.

“There was both good and bad and there was some improvement,” Yamamoto said. “There’s some stuff I need to work on, so throughout the long season being able to pitch gives me a lot of growth within me.”

The Dodgers will have one more regular-season game at home on Thursday, with Tyler Glasnow scheduled to take the mound against San Diego’s Nick Pivetta.