Shohei Ohtani looks to regain his dominance on the mound in Minnesota.

Dominance has been a given for Shohei Ohtani when he steps onto a big-league mound. But this outing at Target Field in Minneapolis will pose an unusual challenge to his resilience.

As of the 2026 season, the Los Angeles Dodgers' two-way ace is pressing the restart button for the first time. His past two starts have seen Ohtani fall into an unusual slump. When he takes the mound tomorrow against the Minnesota Twins, everyone will be focused on one key question: have the physical issues that have recently bothered him finally been resolved?

Ohtani's recent form is a stark contrast to his nearly flawless start to the season. In his first ten starts, he allowed just five earned runs total. In his last two, that figure has skyrocketed to eight runs (seven earned).

Trouble began on June 10 during a road game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. In that outing, he went 6.2 innings, surrendered six hits and three earned runs, needing 102 pitches to barely get through. On June 17 against the Tampa Bay Rays, things worsened: a single half-inning collapse led to a season-high four earned runs.

Adding to the difficulties, these two starts were compounded by two physical issues. In his last outing, Ohtani had to manage lingering soreness from left knee inflammation, which may have subtly affected his pitching mechanics. More critically, during a 26-pitch fifth inning, a blister on his right middle finger worsened.

Tomorrow's mound brings a fresh storyline. Ohtani's opponent will be Twins right-hander Joe Ryan, who was originally scheduled to start on Wednesday but was pulled due to illness, pushing his start back by one day.

This will be their first matchup as starting pitchers. However, they do have a past encounter, though Ohtani was at the plate then. As a hitter, Ohtani has faced Ryan five times, recording one hit and two RBIs.

In today's 12-3 Dodgers victory over the Twins, Ohtani served as the leadoff hitter, going 0-for-3 with a walk and driving in one run via a sacrifice fly. He was pulled early in the late innings with the game well in hand.