ATLANTA -- Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani was dropped to the No. 5 spot in the order for their vital National League Division Series Game 3 against the Atlanta Braves, the lowest he has hit in a lineup since Sept. 23, 2020.
With All-Star left-hander Chris Sale starting for the Braves and Ohtani struggling at the plate since returning from lingering injuries that caused him to miss time toward the end of the regular season, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts moved the four-time MVP to an unfamiliar spot.
"Sale's a different monster," Roberts said.
The teams entered Tuesday tied at a game apiece and with their best postseason pitchers on the mound, with Sale facing Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the reigning World Series MVP.
Runs, Roberts said, would be at a premium, and spreading the left-handed hitters in his lineup against Sale was a priority. Roberts put Freddie Freeman in the No. 2 hole and Kyle Tucker eighth, with Ohtani -- who is 3-for-15 with five strikeouts in his career against Sale -- in the middle.
"We all understand that Sale's going to be tough," Roberts said. "But the guys I feel at the top have a good chance to get on base, and I do think that there's going to be opportunities where the game, the situation, bleeds into Shohei's at-bat."
When Roberts informed Ohtani of the planned change Monday night, Ohtani joked that in September he had considered telling Roberts to hit him seventh -- a spot he last hit while with the Los Angeles Angels in 2020.
This season, Ohtani hit .275 with 30 homers and 81 RBIs. He had two hits and two strikeouts in eight at-bats in the first two games of the NLDS.
Ohtani played in the final five games of the regular season after coming off a two-week stint on the injured list with nagging right biceps and left knee issues. He went 5-for-21 with an extra-base hit, eight strikeouts and a walk over the final five games.
Roberts acknowledged Ohtani has been chasing pitches as he attempts to find his stroke and will continue to see pitches off the plate "until he shows some restraint."
Roberts said he does not expect Ohtani to hit fifth in Wednesday's Game 4 against Braves right-hander Tyler Mahle.
"I just feel this gives us the best chance to beat the Braves today and combat Sale, to combat what they're going to throw after Sale," Roberts said. "And I feel good about it."
Roberts said the lineup move is "not a lack of confidence in any player. It's more of what I feel gives us the best chance to win today. And then that's, in a short series, that's the mindset that everyone has to have."
Ohtani isn't the only high-profile hitter who has struggled in the series and the postseason.
Braves slugger Ronald Acuña Jr. is 3-for-18 in the postseason with no homers and is 2-for-9 in the first two games of the series. Atlanta manager Walt Weiss hasn't moved Acuña from his No. 2 spot in the lineup, but he slid Acuña from right field to designated hitter in a late lineup change. Lane Thomas entered the lineup in right field.
"I just think it's the ebbs and flows of a season where guys get hot and cold," Weiss said Tuesday of Acuña's slump. "And the same thing happens in the postseason. He's one of those guys that's one swing away from doing something really spectacular. So I don't try to overthink it too much. It's going to happen at some point."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.