Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani normally comes across as unflappable, but his patience was tested on Wednesday. By his own catcher, Dalton Rushing.
A bizarre start on the mound against the Minnesota Twins saw Ohtani get frustrated enough with Rushing during a three-run second inning that he resorted to the rare move of calling his own pitches in the third. He dominated from there, finishing his start with a 1.58 ERA in a 4-3 Dodgers win.
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The intrigue began when Rushing allowed the Twins’ first run of the game on a passed ball against Ryan Kreidler. Ohtani told reporters after the game a cross-up was responsible for the mistake, with Rushing expecting an offspeed pitch and getting a fastball.
In the same at-bat, Ohtani challenged a ball call on a low sweeper. Rushing immediately shook his head and appeared to voice an objection… then watched the umpires announce that Ohtani was correct.
The at-bat still resulted in a two-run single from Kreidler, giving the Twins the lead.
Once Ohtani took the mound in the third inning, he was calling his own pitches. He proceeded to dominate for the rest of his start, striking out six batters and allowing only two baserunners in the last four frames of his six-inning start.
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Rushing, meanwhile, did not appear to be enjoying life. During the top of the third inning, he was approached by Dodgers veteran Freddie Freeman, manager Dave Roberts, pitching coach Mark Prior and mental skills coach Bren Walker for an extended conversation on the bench.
In addition to the miscommunication with Ohtani, he finished the game 0-for-4 at the plate and visibly frustrated.
Rushing admitted it wasn’t his best outing after the game:
“It was pretty embarrassing …. They always have my back. Once again, it’s embarrassing that I need support like that. I’m a grown man. It’s a pretty tough pill to swallow. Both sides of the ball, it was not a great showing. Hasn’t been great as of late, I’m going to be better.”
Ohtani made his first 10 starts of the season with Dodgers starting catcher Will Smith behind the plate. It was a fruitful partnership, with a 0.74 ERA and 67 strikeouts in 61 innings. However, Smith hit the injured list with neck inflammation earlier this month, leaving Rushing as the Dodgers’ top catcher. Ohtani now has a 4.34 ERA in three starts with him behind the plate.
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Ohtani didn’t deny there were communication issues after the game, via MLB.com:
“There’s really two ways of communicating … one is by words, but the other way to be able to communicate is by example, and just taking the charge and showing Rush what kind of pitching style I’m capable of … In an ideal world, where I want to be is [in a place] for both of us to pitch in and really be able to shine because we have very different talents. That’s the goal I want to go towards.”
On that note, Rushing confirmed he had “a better idea” of Ohtani’s preferences.
Roberts, for his part, seemed happy with how things shook out:
“I don’t think it was a blow [to his ego],” Roberts said regarding Ohtani taking over the pitch calling. “I actually think it freed [Rushing] up. I think that if there’s ever any doubt, the pitcher always has the right of last refusal and can call his own game. So I think once we decided to do that, then it was pretty clean after that.”
Keep in mind, this is all after a game the Dodgers won. They completed a three-game sweep of the Twins, improving their record to an MLB-best 52-29 with a nine-game cushion in the NL West.
Rushing is a former top 100 prospect who struggled in his rookie season last year then got off to a hot start in 2026. He’s cooled down since, though, hitting .194 with only one homer since the start of May.
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He has also been no stranger to bizarre on-field stories. During the month of April, we saw the following incidents:
To put it politely, Rushing can be described as “a lot,” but he’s also shown some very real power and the Dodgers are probably going to still want his bat around and functional after Smith comes back. Warts and all.
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