San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers

Even while only carrying out one-way duties, Shohei Ohtani is something special. Solely pitching and not hitting for the fourth time in seven starts, Ohtani continued his utter domination on the mound this season. The two-way superstar struck out eight Giants across seven scoreless innings on 105 pitches, scattering four hits and two walks in a 4-0 win on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium. By reaching 44 innings on the season, Ohtani qualified for the ERA leaderboard -- and sits atop it, with a near-pristine 0.82 mark. That is the second-lowest by a Dodgers pitcher through his first seven starts of a season since the earned run became an official statistic in the National League in 1912. Only Fernando Valenzuela had a lower mark, with an 0.29 ERA after seven starts in 1981. If he keeps up this dominance, Ohtani could put himself in consideration to do something else that Valenzuela did in '81: win the Cy Young Award. "Like I've said for a long time, he's a different person when he's pitching," manager Dave Roberts said. "I think he wants to win the Cy Young. I think that that helps the Dodgers, too, in 2026. When he's pitching, I just sort of let him go and … he's in a zone." The Dodgers came into Wednesday's game in sore need of a win, having dropped four straight games by at least four runs. In a sense, Ohtani was the right man to have on that mound with his team in need of a stopper, but L.A. has gone only 2-4 through his first six starts. By snapping their season-high-tying four-game losing streak, the Dodgers also won their first Ohtani start since April 15. * Shohei's good luck charm might be the cleats ... just look That can partially be explained by the fact that the Dodgers entered Wednesday averaging 2.9 runs per game with Ohtani on the mound, the lowest for any L.A. starter. "I don't know if it was a must-win, but it felt like we must get something going, we must show ourselves," Mookie Betts said on SportsNet LA. "Fortunately, Shohei shut them down on the other side and gave us a little time to build something." Ohtani got early run support on back-to-back jacks from Santiago Espinal and Betts in the third inning. The Dodgers tacked on another pair of runs with some small ball in the fourth. That was more than enough for Ohtani, who leaned heaviest on his four-seamer and sweeper as he carved through the Giants' order three times, facing little stress until his final inning.