NEW YORK (AP) — Shohei Ohtani skipped a tentatively scheduled bullpen session Saturday and Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the two-way superstar won’t throw off a mound again until his irritated left knee feels 100%.
“We’re just going to kick the can,” Roberts said before his team played the New York Mets. “I think like I said yesterday, we’re not going to move forward until he feels 100% confident (and) we feel 100% confident that we should do it.”
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Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani follows through on a sacrifice fly ball to drive in a run during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets Friday, July 24, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani throws in the outfield before the second game of a baseball doubleheader against the New York Yankees, Sunday, July 19, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani, right, stands in the outfield with trainer Albert Thomas, left, before the second game of a baseball doubleheader against the New York Yankees, Sunday, July 19, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani runs to first base for a single during the first inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets Friday, July 24, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani, left, throws in the outfield before the second game of a baseball doubleheader against the New York Yankees, Sunday, July 19, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
Ohtani hasn’t pitched in a game since July 3. But the Dodgers say his knee doesn’t bother him while batting, and the four-time MVP has remained in the starting lineup regularly.
The two-time defending World Series champions began the day with the best record in the majors at 66-38 and an 11-game lead in the NL West over Arizona.
Ohtani received a lubricant injection just before the All-Star break and Roberts said last weekend it would be “some time” before Ohtani makes his next appearance as a pitcher.
The right-hander then threw about 30 pitches off a mound Wednesday during a bullpen session in Philadelphia, but Roberts said Ohtani felt a “little bit of regression.”
“It was obviously not ideal, him throwing his last bullpen and going backwards essentially,” Roberts said. “So obviously that’s disappointing because you throw a bullpen, you continue to build up. So that was disappointing, but as far as worry, concern, we don’t have any of that.”
Ohtani is 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA and 95 strikeouts in 85 2/3 innings over 14 starts on the mound this season and has won his past six decisions. He entered Saturday batting .286 with 22 homers, 61 RBIs and a .920 OPS.
In other injury updates, two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell made a second rehab start Friday night for Triple-A Oklahoma City.
Sidelined since his season debut May 9 because of loose bodies in his pitching elbow, the left-hander threw 49 pitches and allowed one run and two hits in 2 2/3 innings. Roberts said Snell likely will progress to four innings in his third rehab outing.
Star closer Edwin Díaz (right elbow surgery) will make another rehab appearance Sunday for Oklahoma City and, if all goes well, the right-hander is expected to be activated from the injured list Wednesday.
Tyler Glasnow, on the 60-day IL since May 8 because of low back spasms, threw 25 pitches in one simulated inning Friday. Glasnow will pitch in another simulated game next week when the Dodgers return home and might start a rehab assignment after that.
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Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani follows through on a sacrifice fly ball to drive in a run during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets Friday, July 24, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani throws in the outfield before the second game of a baseball doubleheader against the New York Yankees, Sunday, July 19, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani, right, stands in the outfield with trainer Albert Thomas, left, before the second game of a baseball doubleheader against the New York Yankees, Sunday, July 19, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani runs to first base for a single during the first inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets Friday, July 24, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani, left, throws in the outfield before the second game of a baseball doubleheader against the New York Yankees, Sunday, July 19, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
CAIRO (AP) — Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said Saturday that they fired missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia in response to Saudi airstrikes on the strategic Red Sea city of Hodeida, in an escalation over vital shipping routes in the Middle East while the United States and Iran vie for control of the Strait of Hormuz.
Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, the Houthis’ military spokesperson, said in a prerecorded statement that the attack targeted facilities in the Red Sea cities of Yanbu and Jizan that belong to Aramco, the world’s largest oil company.
Saudi Arabia's civil defense said alerts sounded multiple times early Saturday in both cities, but the kingdom didn't comment further.
There were no reported strikes overnight in Iran, in an apparent break from nearly two weeks of consecutive nights of U.S. attacks.
The Houthis have said they would close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to Saudi-linked shipping in retaliation for the kingdom’s blockade on Yemen and a recent attack on the international airport in Yemen’s rebel-held capital, Sanaa.
“Nothing short of ending the aggression and lifting the blockade, otherwise, it’s all illusion and mirage," Mahdi al-Mashat, head of the Houthi-led Supreme Political Council governing rebel-controlled territories in Yemen, said of what it would take for the Houthis to not blockade the Bab-El-Mandeb.
That strait, at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is a vital shipping chokepoint connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. Around 12% of the world’s trade, including a quarter of its container traffic, passes through the narrows.
The Houthis targeted two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea this week. In response, Saudi Arabia struck Hodeida, the Saudi-led coalition opposing the rebels said Saturday. The strikes late Friday hit the port and the state-run telecommunications corporation, injuring two people, said Anees al-Asbahi, a spokesperson for the Houthi-run health ministry.
The Saudi-led coalition said it didn’t hit the port but struck “legitimate military targets” in Hodeida province that “were linked to threats to commercial vessels in the Red Sea.”
Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, called for “diplomacy and dialogue” to solve the Yemen conflict without “military confrontations” in an interview published Saturday by the state-run newspaper called Iran.
“Iran had a peaceful night,” Hossein Kermanpour, a spokesperson for Iran's Health Ministry, posted on X. U.S. Central Command didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Unlike the previous 13 nights, it didn't announce new strikes.
But Iran's foreign ministry condemned what it called a Ukrainian attack Saturday on an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea, saying one person was killed and another was hurt and calling it an act of aggression.
In a separate statement, Araghchi said he spoke with European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas about it and that Tehran demanded a response. Ukraine's diplomatic representative to Iran was summoned, Iranian state media reported.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier said on X that Ukraine “achieved very strong results with long‑range strikes in the Caspian Sea — including vessels used in military cargo shipments involving Iran.”
While efforts at mediation between the U.S. and Iran continue, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to travel to the United States next week and meet with President Donald Trump in Washington on Tuesday, his office said Friday. They last met in Washington in February, weeks before they launched the war.
A tenuous ceasefire that halted major operations for weeks has seemed to unravel this month. The U.S. accused Iran of striking three ships in the Strait of Hormuz and responded by striking dozens of targets in Iran, which retaliated by firing at U.S.-allied Gulf Arab states.
The U.S. military has renewed its blockade of Iran’s ports. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has advised residents of neighboring countries to stay away from bases with U.S. troops.
The war has killed more than 3,400 people in Iran, according to its Health Ministry. Eighteen U.S. service members, 24 civilians in Israel and smaller numbers of civilians including foreign workers and mariners have been reportedly killed across the region.
In Lebanon, more than 4,000 people have been killed since Iran-backed Hezbollah militants fired at Israel in support of the Islamic Republic two days after the war began and Israel responded with strikes and ground forces. Thirty-eight Israeli troops have also died.
Dell'Orto reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press reporter Cara Anna in Lowville, New York, contributed to this report.
Vehicles drive past a billboard depicting the clenched fist of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, July 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Fireworks burst as Houthi supporters rally against the Saudi-led coalition in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, July 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
A woman crosses a street with a girl in downtown Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, July 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
