New Shohei Ohtani Pitching Update After Latest Bullpen Session Revealed by Dodgers' Dave Roberts

Shohei Ohtani took a significant step to getting back on the mound prior to the Los Angeles Dodgers' 3-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters Ohtani was able to use his "entire" pitch mix during a 35-pitch bullpen session.

The next steps for Ohtani, according to Roberts, will be seeing how his body feels in the coming days then be able to throw one or two more bullpens before moving on to live sessions then being able to pitch in actual games.

"I'm pretty confident that if we stay the course, he'll throw a [bullpen session] in two, three, four, five days, and then if we get out of that, I think we'll be out of the woods," Roberts said.

Whenever Ohtani does pitch in games again, Roberts said he will initially be limited to one-inning appearances to build his arm strength back up.

Friday's throwing session was the first for Ohtani since July 22 when he threw 31 pitches. He had to skip a planned session on July 25 due to what Roberts described as a "little bit of regression" after dealing with knee inflammation and a biceps issue.

Ohtani hasn't pitched in a game since July 3 against the San Diego Padres. He elected to skip the All-Star Game to rest his knee and arm.

Roberts said on July 29 it would be "highly unlikely" that Ohtani doesn't pitch again this season, but "anything's possible" until he is able to get back in a normal throwing routine.

Ohtani was having an outstanding season on the mound before the injury issues started. The four-time MVP has a 1.79 ERA with 95 strikeouts in 85.2 innings in 14 starts.

The Dodgers (74-49) have split the first two games of their four-game weekend series against the Brewers. Milwaukee holds a one-game lead over Los Angeles for the best record in the NL in the race for home-field advantage in the playoffs.