Shohei Ohtani dealing with knee irritation, to miss All-Star Game

LOS ANGELES -- Shohei Ohtani was scratched from his scheduled pitching start Friday due to continued irritation in his left knee, according to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who made the announcement roughly six hours before he was slated to take the mound.

Ohtani will still serve as the Dodgers' designated hitter for their weekend series against the division rival Arizona Diamondbacks, but he will not join the rest of his teammates at the All-Star Game thereafter. In a statement, the Dodgers said Ohtani will instead "have some interventions on his knee to put him in the best position for the second half of the season."

Ohtani is expected to have the knee drained and then likely receive an injection, a source told ESPN. He will not have surgery, the source said.

He left a June 11 game against the Pittsburgh Pirates early because of irritation in that left knee -- the same one that underwent surgery to address a congenital condition called bipartite patella in September 2019 -- and had the next day off. He has been managing it ever since.

Ohtani, five days removed from his 32nd birthday, had also been dealing with a blister in his pitching hand and tightness in his right bicep, but both of those issues have seemingly subsided. With the All-Star break approaching, Ohtani is slashing .290/.405/.534 with 20 home runs and six stolen bases while going 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA in 14 starts.

In his absence, the Dodgers will stage a bullpen game Friday.br/]