LOS ANGELES -- Shohei Ohtani will be in the Los Angeles Dodgers' lineup when he makes his pitching start Friday, and Dalton Rushing will be his catcher.
Eight days ago, when Rushing was behind the plate in Minneapolis, Ohtani became visibly irritated with his pitch selection and his passivity in challenging pitches, at one point vehemently tapping his head to trigger a video review of a borderline call.
As the game went on, Rushing, 25 and in his second year in the big leagues, was consoled in the dugout by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and first baseman Freddie Freeman, among others. Afterward, Rushing accepted the blame and called it "embarrassing that I need support like that."
Ohtani has a 4.34 ERA in three starts pitching to Rushing and a 0.74 ERA with Will Smith as his catcher.
With Smith out for an undetermined amount of time because of a neck injury, the Dodgers have little choice but for Ohtani and Rushing to get on the same page.
"I think they will be," Roberts said Thursday before the start of a four-game series against the San Diego Padres. "I think they will be more than they were his last start. They don't think the same, so it takes time. But Dalton understands that this is what he signed up for. The job of a catcher is to be a servant to the pitcher. That's the bottom line."
Ohtani was originally scheduled to start Wednesday in Sacramento, but the Dodgers pushed his start back two days so that, they said, he could face the Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks leading up to the All-Star break, instead of the Athletics and Colorado Rockies. However, giving him additional time in between starts is also helpful, considering the left knee that forced him to miss a game and continues to require maintenance.
Roberts said he spoke to Ohtani earlier Thursday and that he's "feeling better every day."
"Just the way he's moving the last couple days has been better," Roberts said.