Prior to Wednesday’s game against the Rockies, Shohei Ohtani had only taken the mound at hitter-friendly Coors Field once before -- during the 2021 All-Star Game, when he started for the American League and pitched a scoreless inning.

Game 1 of the three-game series at Petco Park just concluded, and it saw the San Diego Padres tie the Dodgers for the NL West lead. The Padres started their series against the Dodgers on Friday with a division lead on the line. With the 2-1 win, the Padres improved to 73-56 while sliding the Dodgers to an identical record.

Ohtani has only pitched one time in relief since coming over to MLB in 2018, and it wasn’t in a big-league game; he recorded the final three outs for Samurai Japan to close out the 2023 World Baseball Classic after starting the game as a designated hitter.

The return of Shohei Ohtani to two-way superstardom hasn't left any doubt: Pitcher Ohtani is as nasty as ever … if not nastier. He's struck out 15 batters in 8 1/3 innings over his two most recent outings on the mound,

Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani and his agent, Nez Balelo, are being sued in Hawaii Circuit Court by a real estate investor and broker who allege they were wrongfully removed from a $240 million luxury development on the Big Island.

Salvador Perez returned to the Kansas City Royals lineup yesterday, going 1-for-3 with a walk in a 6-3 loss to the Texas Rangers. Perez had missed the prior two games due to an illness. So far this season, the durable backstop has appeared in 119 of the Royals' 127 games.

A batch of notes and observations in 5 Phillies thoughts ahead of a weekend division set:

🚨NEWS: MLB & ESPN have an agreement to make the network the exclusive home of out-of-market games for all teams and in-market for five clubs, The Athletic has learned. Full details on MLB negotiations https://t.co/BtSGL0BujF