BOSTON -- Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani is expected to start on the mound Wednesday as he continues his buildup from elbow surgery that kept him from pitching all last season.
Manager Dave Roberts said Sunday before the Dodgers faced the Boston Red Sox in the finale of their three-game series that the plan is for Ohtani to work four innings at Cincinnati, with an off day to recover before hitting in a game.
With the Japanese superstar working his way back along with left-hander Blake Snell, who pitched 4⅔ innings on Saturday in his fourth rehab start for Triple-A Oklahoma City, the Dodgers will be using a six-man rotation.
They currently have Clayton Kershaw, Tyler Glasnow, Dustin May, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Emmet Sheehan in the rotation.
"Shohei is going to go on Wednesday and then he'll probably pitch the following Wednesday, so that probably lends itself to the six-man," Roberts said.
In Ohtani's last start, he allowed one run and four hits in three innings against Minnesota on July 22. He struck out three and walked one, throwing 46 pitches, 30 for strikes.
Roberts said this season is sort of a rehab year in the big leagues and doesn't foresee the team extending Ohtani's workload deep into games for a while.
"I think this whole year on the pitching side is sort of rehab, maintenance," he said. "We're not going to have the reins off where we're going to say: 'Hey you can go 110 pitches.' I don't see that happening for quite some time. I think that staying at four [innings] for a bit, then build up to five and we'll see where we can go from there."