By Paul Teetor
The Dodgers’ Grim Reaper
The grim reaper struck again Wednesday night.
It happened at Chavez Ravine when Dodgers manager Dave Roberts pulled Shohei Ohtani out of the game two thirds of the way through a game where he was pitching a no-hitter against the Colorado Rockies.
It was the second time in less than a year that Roberts had deprived Ohtani of a chance at immortality. At this stage of his career, Ohtani has done plenty to merit his undisputed status as a future Hall of Famer – both for his power hitting and his pinpoint pitching. If his career continues on its current trajectory he will surpass Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb and Willie Mays as the GOAT – the greatest of all time.
But he has yet to throw a no hitter in his nine seasons in Major League Baseball. Twice now Roberts has denied him that opportunity when he was closing in on a no hitter.
By contrast, the great power pitcher Nolan Ryan threw an incredible seven no hitters in his 27-year career, and 35 pitchers have thrown at least two no-hitters. Of course, that covers more than 150 years of big-league baseball, so no hitters are still relatively rare.
And they’re becoming more and more rare every year as so-called bull pen games have come into vogue, pitch counts dictate manager’s moves and an epidemic of arm injuries have all combined to dominate and change the face of 21st century baseball.
But Roberts has done this so often – replace a pitcher well on his way to a no-hitter – that pitchers around the league have dubbed him the Grim Reaper. The word is out: If you’re pitching a no-hitter and you see Roberts coming out to the mound, he’s probably not there to cheer you on or discuss pitching strategy – he’s about to claim another victim.
In this case, Roberts’s surprise move to pull Shohei was less egregious than usual. Even Ohtani admitted that he wasn’t as sharp as he has been all season, during which he has posted an astounding 0.82 earned run average – meaning he is giving up fewer than one earned run per nine inning game.
Wednesday night Ohtani led the game off with a home run – the second straight start that he has given the Dodgers an instant lead with a homer.
But on the mound Ohtani walked four batters, hit another batter, and gave up a run – all while he allowed no hits through six innings.
He matched that lone run with his leadoff home run and the Dodgers’ bullpen took the combined no-hitter into the eighth inning before Tanner Scott gave up a single with two outs. That was the only hit the Dodgers allowed in a 4-1 victory, their fifth straight win and their 12th in the past 14 games.
Once again, Ohtani made history: No other pitcher in MLB’s modern era (post 1906) has both hit a leadoff home run and pitched six innings or more without allowing a hit in the same game.
Ohtani is too classy to complain about Roberts’s decision to pull him from the game, and he said he understood why Roberts did it.
“I was just battling the lack of command I had throughout the night,” Ohtani said through his interpreter, still dissatisfied with himself after the game.
But Ohtani is only human – despite rumors to the contrary — and it would be totally understandable if he had wanted to keep pitching until he gave up a hit. No matter how great a pitcher is, he’s only going to have a few opportunities to pitch a no-hitter.
Roberts should have allowed Ohtani to keep pitching until he gave up a hit. If he does give up a hit, take him out right then – but at least give him a chance once he has gone five or more innings without giving up a hit.
All Ball happens to think Roberts is the best manager in all of baseball. He’s great at all three facets of managing a ball club, especially a high profile one like the Dodgers: keep the players happy and productive, keep the front office suits and data crunchers happy by letting them think he is actually listening to them, and acting on their suggestions, and keep the media happy by giving the beat writers some nugget of a story every day and answering all their questions – no matter how dumb — reasonably candidly.
But he’s not perfect, and his Grim Reaper nickname is well deserved. He clearly doesn’t agree with All Ball’s policy to let a pitcher keep going until he gives up a hit.
Consider his track record.
Wednesday night was the 10th time in his managerial career that Roberts pulled a pitcher with a no-hitter going in the fifth inning or later – a list that includes two seven-inning perfect games (Rich Hill in 2016 and Clayton Kershaw in 2022), a combined no-hitter (Walker Buehler only went six innings in the 2018 no-hitter) and, most recently, Ohtani after five innings last Sept. 16.
For the entire decade that he has been Dodgers manager, Roberts has argued that he prioritized player health, workload management, and pitch counts over individual historical milestones.
Roberts established his pattern right from the start: in only his fifth game as Dodgers manager, on April 8, 2016, Roberts pulled rookie pitcher Ross Stripling after seven and a third hitless innings – in Stripling’s Major League debut!
The bullpen immediately blew the no-hitter and the game. The decision sparked a ton of media criticism, but all the negative buzz had no effect on Roberts.
In his most heavily scrutinized decision, on April 13, 2022 Roberts pulled Dodger ace Clayton Kershaw,
who was throwing a perfect game through seven innings. Kershaw, coming off an elbow injury with a shortened spring training, publicly backed the decision.
Like Ohtani, Kershaw was too classy a guy to publicly rip Roberts. But he’s only human, and like Ohtani would have loved the chance to get a no-hitter. But in this case, it would have been his second, as he had already thrown one in 2014,
After Wednesday night’s win, Roberts once again emphasized the practical over the sentimental.
“We pitched well. We pitched really well, and it would’ve been nice,” Roberts said of the lost no-hit bid. “It would’ve been nice, but we’ll take the win.”
The Grim Reaper strikes again.
Happy Trails to Chris Taylor
Former Dodgers star turned Angels scrub Chris Taylor has retired from baseball at age 35.
It’s official this time.
Taylor’s official retirement came after four days in which he apparently retired, then a day later unretired, and finally a few days later made it formal and official.
On Sunday, the Manhattan Beach resident announced on Instagram he has “officially decided to retire from the game I’ve dedicated my entire life towards,” releasing a lengthy statement “clearing up any confusion” about his decision to end his 14-year professional career.
“I’m beyond grateful to all of my coaches and teammates, and the organizations who allowed me to live out my childhood dream,” Taylor wrote. “I’ll forever cherish the memories along the way and most of all, the friendships that will last a lifetime.”
Taylor’s charitable foundation, the CT3 Foundation, holds an annual Polar Bear plunge at the Manhattan Beach Pier. It has become a highlight of the winter season here.
News of his retirement first emerged Friday, when MLB’s transactions log listed him as having retired from the sport.
But then on Saturday, MLB.com reported that Taylor changed his mind and was instead going on the minor-league injured list, having suffered a fractured forearm on a hit-by-pitch in a Triple-A game last week.
But instead of rehabbing his injury while hoping to make one last run at returning to the majors, Taylor decided to hang it up at 35 years old.
In his statement, Taylor thanked “the loyal fans who have supported me through my success and stuck with me through the struggles.”
He also highlighted the support of his parents, family and wife, Mary.
“I can’t wait to start our next chapter in life together with our boys,” the father of two wrote.
After the Mariners drafted him in 2012 and he made his MLB debut with the club in 2014, Taylor became an All-Star player and two-time World Series champion during his 10-year run with the Dodgers, who traded for him in 2016 and watched him flourish as a valuable utility player with a highlight reel’s worth of memorable postseason moments.
Taylor spent much of the last calendar year with the Angels, after the Dodgers released him last May amid a years-long decline offensively.
He appeared in 30 MLB games with the Angels last year, then made 32 appearances with Triple-A Salt Lake this season before getting hurt.
Because he spent the first couple months of last year on the Dodgers’ big-league roster, he is expected to receive a third World Series ring from the team.
For all that he did for the Dodgers, and for all that he has done for the Beach Cities community, he deserves it.
Contact: teetor.paul@gmail.com. ER
