This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.
See more from the L.A. Times in Google Search. Set us as preferred
CHICAGO — Dodgers third base coach Dino Ebel went directly to Shohei Ohtani’s competition for NL MVP with his gripe.
Ebel, who coached Cubs star center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong with Team USA in the World Baseball Classic this year, gave him grief for serving as the designated hitter on Wednesday. He couldn’t play center field every day?
Ohtani and Crow-Armstrong had just traded leadoff home runs, so Crow-Armstrong told reporters that he shot back with: “Well, it took your guy 10 pitches, it only took me one.”
He was exaggerating slightly. Ohtani’s leadoff homer came on the seventh pitch of the at-bat against Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga. And that, of course, wasn’t really how Crow-Armstrong felt.
Catcher Dalton Rushing, who’d already been pressed into duty because of Will Smith’s lingering neck injury, will be shut down from throwing for four to six weeks.
“A [seven]-pitch at-bat to start the game and finish it off with a 110 [mph] ball at 20 degrees is pretty ridiculous,” Crow-Armstrong said.
The National League MVP race transformed into a head-to-head showdown between the frontrunners at Wrigley Field on Wednesday, as the Dodgers fell to the Cubs 7-6.
“Over the course of a season, there’s a lot of ups and downs,” Ohtani, a four-time MVP, said through interpreter Will Ireton. “It’s too early to think about that. So in a way for me it’s more important for the team to win and for me to contribute to that.”
Though Crow-Armstrong played along with the MVP talk, he came around to a similar sentiment.
“I would be crazy to say that I don’t want to win an MVP, but if we’re talking about having priorities straight, I think mine are pretty straight,” he said. “It’s not on the forefront of my mind. It’s fun to joke about and it’s fun to acknowledge and I think it’s absolutely OK to pay attention to. But it’s not following me up to the plate.
“If you guys want to talk about all this back and forth, like, I really should go get in the lab and start pitching. I really should.”
Ohtani was considered the runaway MVP favorite early in the year, while his pitching performance also put him in the Cy Young conversation. But his extended absence from the mound (left knee issue) and Crow-Armstrong’s contributions on offense and defense have made the race more interesting.
Crow-Armstrong entered Wednesday leading the majors in fWAR (7.5), followed by Ohtani (6.4).