Shohei Ohtani threw five scoreless innings, allowed just three hits, and hit a leadoff home run on the first pitch of the game. Despite the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 4-0 win over the San Diego Padres, Ohtani was frustrated. The contrast between his great stats and his unhappy mood became the biggest story of the night.

Ohtani didn’t feel sharp. He needed 52 pitches to get through the first nine batters. That made it his shortest start of the season.

“A lot of uncertainty coming into this outing because the feel wasn’t great,” Ohtani noted in the post-game interview.

The Dodgers walked into Petco Park needing a statement win against the Padres. And Shohei Ohtani gave them the spark they needed. The first pitch of the game by Randy Vásquez was blasted to a 398-foot homer toward right-center.

That homer gave LA momentum, and the Dodgers never lost control. Teoscar Hernández added a sacrifice fly RBI, while Kyle Tucker delivered an RBI single in the third inning.

Despite that comfortable 4-0 victory, Ohtani, surprisingly, was not happy with his dominant pitching performance.

In the 5th inning, Ohtani gave up a leadoff single to Bryce Johnson, followed by a single from Nick Castellanos. This put Johnson on third. Ohtani did get a soft grounder to get Castellanos out at second, but couldn’t get the double play.

After walking Freddy Fermin on six pitches, he loaded the bases for Fernando Tatis Jr. Had Tatis singled, two runs would have scored, making it a tight 3-2 game.

But Tatis hit the first pitch into an inning-ending double play. Ohtani pumped his fists as he walked off the mound, showing relief, but also frustration at how close he came to blowing the lead.

Evidently, Shotime didn’t like the “process” of winning it. Checking the contrast, Ohtani threw 88 pitches in 5 innings on Wednesday, whereas in the May 6 game against the Houston Astros, it was 89 pitches in 7 innings. The Padres game saw his fewest pitches and shortest outing since his opening start this season.

But looking on the bright side for Ohtani, this game made his case for Cy Young stronger.

His ERA has now fallen to 0.73 in 49 innings. Ohtani has surrendered only four earned runs across his eight starts, and comparing that to his Japanese teammate Yoshinobu Yamamoto (21 earned runs, 3.32 ERA in 57 innings), the difference is clear.

And now, what makes this outing scary for the opposition is that, for any other pitcher, this would have been one of the best outings of the season, but for Ohtani, it wasn’t ‘good.’

But this isn’t the only thing that Ohtani is not happy about.

Shohei Ohtani is not happy and doesn’t agree with Dave Roberts

While Shohei Ohtani is not happy with his own pitching, he is also not pleased with Dave Roberts’ decision to give him rest days. Roberts recently gave Ohtani days off from hitting to fight fatigue. The manager blamed Ohtani’s recent hitting slump on being tired, adding that extra rest helps prevent injuries.

Roberts believed those scheduled breaks helped Ohtani mentally and physically to get better at the plate.

Addressing these concerns, Doc noted, “I think it was fatigue. Fatigue potentially leads to injury, so getting ahead of the fatigue piece of it, I think, is really important,” following Ohtani’s improved offensive performances in recent games.

Before this turnaround, Ohtani recorded only four hits across 36 at-bats – one of his worst offensive stretches. But on Wednesday, he went 1-for-4, and on Tuesday, he went 2-for 3.

The Dodgers believed reducing daily pressure could protect Ohtani from injuries while improving his production. But Ohtani did not agree with this belief in workload management.

“I actually felt pretty good the day before I pitched, hitting-wise,” Ohtani remarked. “I think that helped more than the off days.”

Ohtani probably wants to ensure that he can handle being a 2-way player.

But the question that many fans had was, is Ohtani’s offense really that bad? The answer would be no.

Even after going through a slump, Ohtani has a .272 average with .885 OPS. This is the number of an elite hitter and not someone who was in a massive slump.

Yet, the tension between competition and preservation will probably continue for the rest of the season. Ohtani wants playing time every day because elite athletes rarely enjoy resting during a championship season. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Dodgers understand that keeping Shohei Ohtani healthy for October matters more than forcing unnecessary regular-season starts.