Shohei Ohtani out for 2nd straight game, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts 'hopeful' star will avoid IL

Shohei Ohtani is out of the Los Angeles Dodgers' lineup for the second consecutive game on Friday, sidelined with assorted injuries that has him on "day-to-day" status, according to manager Dave Roberts.

Ohtani also sat out of Thursday's 3-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals following striking out four times in Wednesday's game. That performance led Roberts to tell reporters, "He's not close to optimal."

Despite Ohtani being out of the lineup, Roberts believes that the reigning National League MVP will avoid going on the injured list. However, he didn't discount the possibility entirely.

"Hopeful," Roberts told reporters, including The Athletic's Fabian Ardaya . "I wouldn't say confident, but hopeful."

Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes echoed that sentiment, saying he doesn't want to go 10 days or more without Ohtani in the lineup.

"I think not having Shohei in the lineup for 10 days or whatever it would be is something that we would prefer not to do," Gomes said, via MLB.com's Sonja Chen . "It really hasn't even been something that we've discussed."

Alex Call is in the Dodgers' lineup at designated hitter for Friday's matchup with the Washington Nationals, batting seventh. Tommy Edman is leading off and playing center field.

Ohtani, 32, has been dealing with lingering pain in his right biceps and left knee that initially delayed the two-way star from returning to the mound. But those issues are now affecting the four-time MVP's hitting as well.

In August, Ohtani still hit 6 home runs, but only tallied 3 doubles while compiling a .241/.322/.472 slash average in 121 plate appearances. Those numbers were far below what he'd been producing for the previous four months of the season.

With that August dip, Ohtani is now tied for 10th in MLB with 30 home runs and 18th with 80 RBI. His slash line is .279/.381/.525 and his .906 OPS still ranks fourth among MLB hitters.

At 83-57 going into Friday's game, the Dodgers are tied with the Atlanta Braves for the second-best record in MLB and hold a 9.5-game first-place lead in the NL West with 22 games remaining in the regular season.