Shohei Ohtani still causes damage after an intentional walk following a triple, as the Dodgers narrowly beat the Diamondbacks on the road.

In today's game where the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-5 on the road, with one out and a runner on third in the seventh inning, the Diamondbacks had no intention of pitching to Shohei Ohtani. They simply extended four fingers and intentionally walked him to first base.

Shohei Ohtani is one of the most formidable hitters in baseball, so he is no stranger to intentional walks. However, it has been a long time since an opposing team chose to take the bat out of his hands like this—specifically, 26 games ago.

Even during Ohtani's slow start at the plate this season, his career track record was enough to make pitchers cautious. Now that Ohtani has regained his form, opponents are treating him more like the most dangerous version of himself.

Ohtani had already hit a double and a two-run triple earlier, and he didn't get another chance to do more damage in the seventh inning. However, because the Diamondbacks put him on first base, he later scored on Mookie Betts' RBI single, giving the Dodgers a four-run lead at that point. That run ultimately became the winning run, as the Diamondbacks scored three runs in the next half-inning off Dodgers relievers Kyle Hurt and Will Klein.

That's the problem with intentionally walking Shohei Ohtani: even if you limit him by putting him on base, there are still plenty of capable hitters behind him who can get the job done.

After a lackluster offensive performance in a 1-4 loss the previous day, the Dodgers erupted on offense the next day. In his first at-bat, Ohtani lined a double to right field and later scored on Freddie Freeman's ninth home run of the season.

In the second inning, Dalton Rushing and Alex Freeland hit consecutive singles to reach base. Ohtani again lined a ball to right field, driving both runners home and sliding safely into third base for his second triple of the season.

Since May 12, which was the day before he got a chance to rest and regroup by not batting in two consecutive games, Ohtani has recorded 29 hits in 69 at-bats, a .420 batting average, including 13 extra-base hits. In the 38 games prior to that, he had 34 hits in 146 at-bats, a .233 average, also with 13 extra-base hits.