Shohei Ohtani and Dodgers suffer setback in their

NEW YORK — Shohei Ohtani’s throwing program has stalled, with the Dodgers star canceling a bullpen session the workforce had tentatively scheduled for Saturday.

“Just doesn’t feel 100%,” supervisor Dave Roberts said of Ohtani’s left knee. “And because I think that the last ‘pen that he had, there was a little bit of regression. So we want to make sure that that doesn’t happen again.”

It was going to be Ohtani’s second bullpen since receiving an orthovisc injection in his knee on July 12. He threw a roughly 30-pitch facet session on Wednesday.

It’s unclear when he’ll throw off the mound next. But Roberts said he’s still optimistic that Ohtani will return to the rotation someday in August.

“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 to continue to build up. So that was disappointing. But as far as worry, concern, we don’t have any of that.”

Roberts described a “fluid” course of, with a lot of enter from Ohtani, as he and Dodgers continue to navigate the knee issue. Because only pitching appears to be aggravating the injury, Ohtani will continue to play at designated hitter.

“From his words, the hitting, the running, as he has done the last couple nights, doesn’t affect him,” Roberts said. “So I can only go by what he and the training staff are telling me. So, unless I hear otherwise, that hitting compromises his health, then I’m going to keep putting him in the lineup.”

The Dodgers had initially hoped the injection and time off main up to the All-Star break would enable him to get past the discomfort in his knee and not have to fear about managing it for the remainder of the season.

Though Ohtani feels better than he did before the break, according to Roberts, the workforce wasn’t envisioning this variety of start-and-stop buildup.

The schedule does the Dodgers some favors. The off day Monday permits them to get through this coming week without filling Ohtani’s spot in the rotation. But in order to keep all their starters on a six- to seven-day rotation, they’ll have to discover a alternative — whether or not that be a bullpen day or another starter — by the first week of August.

Starting pitcher Blake Snell (arthroscopic elbow surgical procedure) is on monitor to be close to a return from the injured record by then. In his second rehab start this month, he threw 2⅔ innings (49 pitches) for triple-A Oklahoma City on Friday.

He’ll be focusing on 4 innings in his next start, according to Roberts. When requested if he’d need another rehab outing after that, Roberts said: “Let’s just get through that next one. Get through four innings and kind of read and react from there.”

Injury updates

The Dodgers are set to welcome back utility participant Kiké Hernández (strained left indirect) and nearer Edwin Díaz (arthroscopic elbow surgical procedure) from the injured record early in next week’s homestand.

Hernández is set to be activated Tuesday, as the Dodgers open a three-game sequence against the Seattle Mariners, Roberts said. And Díaz probably will return Wednesday, sliding back into the nearer position that Tanner Scott has held in his absence.

Tyler Glasnow (back spasms) threw about 25 pitches in a one-inning live batting apply session Friday, Roberts said. He’s scheduled to throw to batters again next week.