Shohei Ohtani delivers latest two-way masterpiece in Dodgers rout of Dbacks

PHOENIX –– Shohei Ohtani isn’t supposed to be making it look this easy.Not after a second career Tommy John surgery.Not in his first full two-way season in three years.

Not with the eyes of the baseball world watching his every move, wondering exactly how long he can keep this level of dominance up.And yet, there Ohtani was on Wednesday night at Chase Field, looking every bit the part of the best player in the sport.In a 7-0 rout of the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Dodgers’ unicorn talent continued what has become a magical campaign thus far. He delivered a scoreless six-inning outing on the mound that lowered his ERA to 0.74 through his first 10 starts –– third-lowest that deep into a season since earned runs first became a stat in 1913.If that wasn’t enough, he also went 3-for-4 as a hitter while drawing two walks, pushing his batting average back above the .300 mark for the first time since opening day.There’s no debating Ohtani’s status as the game’s preeminent superstar right now.After Wednesday, the bigger question is whether he’s also baseball’s best current pitcher, as well.Granted, Ohtani doesn’t have –– and will not finish the year with –– as many innings as some of the game’s other top arms this year.He is still technically below the minimum innings threshold to be considered a qualified pitcher, albeit by only one.Still, no one is preventing runs as clinically as he is at the moment.At no point this season has his ERA even reached 1.00.“I think he’s been so dominant because he’s got a handle on his weapons, his pitches,” manager Dave Roberts said before the game.

“Last year, first year coming back from Tommy John, he was just getting a handle [on everything].Right now, verse right, verse left, he’s got a lot of weapons.”That was once again the case on Wednesday, as Ohtani mowed through the Arizona lineup in a two-hit, one-walk, six-strikeout gem.The right-hander retired the first 11 batters he faced, ext...