Shohei Ohtani, Dalton Rushing second-guess missed ABS chances in Dodgers painful loss

PITTSBURGH –– Dalton Rushing was unsuccessful on the one call he tried to challenge in the bottom of the seventh Wednesday night.Three other times, in what became a three-run inning that triggered a late-game meltdown in the Dodgers’ eventual loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, both he and pitcher Shohei Ohtani missed the chance to use MLB’s new ABS system to turn called balls into what could have been game-changing strikes.“I hesitated whether to challenge,” Ohtani said in Japanese afterward.“Looking at the results, I think it would have been better to.”Granted, that wasn’t the main reason for the Dodgers’ painful 9-8 defeat at PNC Park –– not on a night the team’s bullpen combined to allow five more runs in the eighth as the Dodgers blew what had been a five-run lead. Still, the borderline pitches nonetheless became a topic of conversation in the clubhouse postgame, starting with Ohtani’s admission to reporters himself.“I went up to around here,” he said while raising his hand to his head, mimicking the signal for an ABS challenge.

“But I didn’t take the last step.”Entering the seventh, the Dodgers were in total control.They had built a 6-1 lead on Ryan Ward’s grand slam an inning earlier.

Ohtani, meanwhile, was back on the mound trying to complete his latest pitching gem.Against leadoff hitter Tyler Callihan, however, the pair’s first missed ABS opportunity set the disaster in motion.In a 1-0 count, Ohtani threw a low fastball that, according to MLB’s Gameday system, caught the bottom of the zone.With both of their challenges remaining at that point, either Rushing or Ohtani could have opted for an ABS appeal.Alas, they let the at-bat roll on.

And while Ohtani eventually worked the count full, he couldn’t put Callihan away with a fastball or a sweeper, before finally missing with a curveball for what would prove to be a consequential leadoff walk.Three batters later, the Pirates had two aboard with one out when Rushin...