Roberts: Ohtani to start Wednesday vs the Rays as knee swelling 'completely dissipated'

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shohei Ohtani will make his scheduled start on the mound against the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

Ohtani (6-2, 1.06 ERA) left last Thursday’s game in Pittsburgh with left knee inflammation. He missed the next day's game against the White Sox in Chicago, then returned for Saturday’s game. This will be his first start since the injury in Chicago.

Roberts said Tuesday the swelling in Ohtani’s knee had “completely dissipated.”

“I saw that he had just a catch-play right now,” Roberts said of Ohtani’s work. “He’s going to do his touchy-feely deal from the mound in a little bit. I saw him play some catch. Looks good, feels good. Look forward to him making a start tomorrow.”

Wednesday’s game against the Rays is an early afternoon start. It’s a tight window to prep and an early start.

“He likes his sleep. It’s certainly not ideal, but the calendar is the calendar,” Roberts said. “He’ll get his rest and do what he can to post tomorrow. … Anyone that has anything that has a potential red flag, we’ll certainly be watching closely. But again, he wouldn’t start if we felt that we were going to put him in harm’s way. He’s a competitor.”

Asked if Ohtani will bat in addition to pitching, Roberts said he was undecided.

In his last pitching start last Wednesday, Ohtani gave up four runs — three earned runs — in 6 2/3 innings and the Dodgers lost to Pittsburgh, 9-8.

Utility man Tommy Edman was reinstated by the Dodgers on Tuesday following offseason ankle surgery.

Edman, who was the 2024 NLCS MVP in the Dodgers World Series championship year, will make his season debut soon, although he wasn’t in the starting lineup on Tuesday night.

“The good thing was, I saw progress with every step along the way. It just wasn’t as fast as I expected,” Edman said.

Santiago Espinal was designated for assignment.

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