CHICAGO -- Two-way star Shohei Ohtani was not in the Dodgers' lineup for Friday's 8-2 loss to the White Sox, one day after he was removed from a game in Pittsburgh because of left knee inflammation.
Manager Dave Roberts said the decision was made "just to give him an extra day, and my hope is that he's in there tomorrow. But if not, he'll need another day."
Roberts added that Ohtani was "doing fine today" and said that if the game was in a more crucial part of the season, he'd be able to play Friday.
"We got some pictures," Roberts said. "There were no findings. It's just the normal wear and tear. I thought initially it was a hamstring, but it was the knee. It just kind of got upset, swelled up a little bit.
"It's something that I think that we can manage, not an IL situation. Just seeing him today, he feels fine-ish, but just giving him an extra day is a smart thing to do."
Roberts said there was no specific precipitating event that caused the issue in Ohtani's knee, which was operated on in 2019 when he was with the Angels.
"[Ohtani] said there's some soreness in the back, that's where the swelling is at," Roberts said. "But his range of motion today is good."
Ohtani remains slated to make his next start on the mound Wednesday when the Dodgers host the Tampa Bay Rays.
"As of now, yes," Roberts said.
Ohtani is hitting .305 with 13 homers and 40 RBIs this season and leads the National League with a .421 on-base percentage. On the mound, he's 6-2 with a 1.06 ERA that would lead the NL if he qualified, though he's 1⅓ innings short of that.
The numbers put Ohtani squarely in the running for a fourth straight MVP award and possibly his first Cy Young Award. Even for the two-time champs, it's the kind of performance a team doesn't want to be without for very long.
Roberts said that any impact on the Dodgers' overall plan for Ohtani's unprecedented two-way usage should be only temporary.
"I expect him to make his start on Wednesday until I hear otherwise," Robert said. "I expect him to be in there either tomorrow or the next day until I hear otherwise."