Dodgers have been cautious and methodical with Ohtani’s workload as a pitcher, seeing anything beyond five innings in a regular-season start as unnecessary.

Shohei Ohtani clobbered his 39th home run for his 1,000th career hit and also struck out eight in his best start this season -- but what should have been a banner day for the Dodgers instead turned into a 5-3 defeat to the Cardinals.

The eight strikeouts on Wednesday gave Ohtani 25 strikeouts against five walks in his 19 innings pitched so far this season, with a 2.37 ERA and 32.5-percent strikeout rate. He also leads the National League with wRC+ (166), slugging percentage (.606), and runs scored (106), and is second with 39 home runs.