For the last five years, Shohei Ohtani had been his team’s designated hitter every time he took the mound for a pitching start.

But now, for the second time in three weeks, he was tasked on Tuesday with only pitching for the Dodgers once again.

As manager Dave Roberts initially announced Monday night, Ohtani was not in the club’s batting lineup as DH for his latest pitching outing against the Miami Marlins at Dodger Stadium.

Instead, Ohtani was strictly a pitcher, while Dalton Rushing took over as both DH and leadoff hitter.

Last time the Dodgers had Ohtani only focus on pitching, it was on April 15 against the New York Mets when the two-way star was nursing a bruised shoulder.

This time, however, the move was much more illustrative of the way the Dodgers are trying to manage the four-time MVP’s workload as he returns to two-way duties on a full-time basis (or, almost full-time, anyway) this year.

Roberts said he expects the Dodgers to have Ohtani only pitch in more games this season, but wasn’t sure how often they would opt for the strategy.

“Obviously, having him do both duties, in theory, in practice, is great,” Roberts said before Tuesday’s game. “But how sustainable is it without kind of taking a little bit off his plate a little bit? That’s the question. It’s not an exact science.”

“His goal is to make every start,” Roberts later added. “So with that, there has to be some compromise and some openness to kind of read and react. So far, I think we’re doing a nice job and he’s open to that.”

While only focusing on pitching should “only help” Ohtani’s outings on the mound, Roberts noted, the main impetus for the move is keeping the 31-year-old fresh as he navigates what figures to be a grueling season physically.

“The main thing is what’s best for him,” Roberts said. “That’s more of the health part and appreciating that there’s a long way to go and he’s taking on a lot.”

For Tuesday, specifically, the Dodgers factored in that Ohtani was pitching on just five days’ rest for the first time this year, as opposed to his typical six or seven. Roberts also cited the fact that Wednesday’s series finale will be a noon start, leaving a tight turnaround for Ohtani to be ready to DH again in that day’s game.

“He was fine with it,” Roberts said. “He completely understood. For he and I, every decision I make with him or any of my players, they understand it’s for their benefit … He just kind of wants communication. I told him my decision and he was OK with it and moved on.”

Last weekend, Roberts acknowledged the added difficulty facing the 31-year-old this year. He is back to making full-intensity and full-length outings in his weekly turns through the team’s six-man rotation. It’s only “common sense,” the skipper argued, that it has resulted in cuts to Ohtani’s behind-the-scenes bandwidth and somewhat sluggish early-season offensive production.

Thus, the Dodgers are trying to be proactive about managing Ohtani’s workload –– especially since this is the first time in his career he is taking on a full two-way role for a team expected to play deep into October.

“That kind of aligns with how we look at things,” Roberts said. “Understanding when you need to push guys and when you don’t.”

Entering Tuesday, Ohtani has been stellar on the mound, posting a 0.38 ERA in his first four starts with 25 strikeouts in 24 innings.

Offensively, he has gotten off to a slower start –– at least relative to his MVP standards –– with a .278 average and .898 OPS, albeit with still six home runs.

“It doesn’t make sense for him to go wire-to-wire (as both a) pitcher and hitter, playing every day and pitching every week. That’s hard,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman told AM570 over the weekend. “So we do need to mix some rest in there … It definitely makes it trickier. That being said, as long as we’re staying connected (with him) consistently, I think we will feel our way through what makes the most sense.”

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