As his march into history neared its goal in recent weeks, Shohei Ohtani tried to avoid the talk surrounding his quest for 50-50.

“That’s something I’ll look back on at the end of the season,” the Dodgers slugger, who is trying to become the first player in Major League Baseball history to hit 50 home runs and 50 steals in the same season, said last week. “I’m trying to be less conscious of it (right now).”

However, his manager sees through his bluff.

“It’s important to him,” Dave Roberts said recently with a mischievous grin. “I think he wants to be the best player who ever played, and one way to do that is to do something nobody has ever done. Which he’s already done. But you like round numbers.”

Ohtani has indeed already entered unprecedented territory.

Before this year, no player had ever hit 43 home runs in a single season. After Tuesday’s Dodgers’ 11-9 loss to the Miami Marlins at loanDepot Park, Ohtani is now 48-48, ending a (for him, long) four-game home run drought with a second-deck blast in the top of the third inning.

The home run wasn’t enough to help the Dodgers overcome a shaky performance from the pitching team

Bobby Miller allowed four runs over two innings in a shaky start and once again failed to control the baseball (only 38 of his 65 pitches were strikes) or strike out batters (four of his seven hits allowed and his only walk came with two strikes) while his ERA rose to 8.52.

Michael Grove scored three runs in his 1 ⅔ inning relief appearance, while Ryan Brasier and Daniel Hudson each allowed two more in the sixth and eighth innings, respectively.

The Dodgers (89-62) came close to coming back a few times against the last-place Marlins (56-95).

Ohtani’s home run sparked a four-run tie in the third inning, the fifth time in the last 10 games that the Dodgers scored at least four runs in an inning.

Miguel Rojas tied the score at 5-5 with a home run in the fourth inning before the Marlins scored twice against Grove in the following half inning to take the lead for good.

Ohtani had one last chance to turn the tide in the sixth inning when he came to the plate with runners on the corners in a game that was one run ahead, but he struck out on three pitches to end the game, one of three times he went down after strikes in what ended up being a 1-for-5 performance.

In Dodgers land, after Tuesday’s loss, the only number that mattered was three – the number of games they currently lead in the National League West over the San Diego Padres (who had yet to finish their game on Tuesday night).

For the rest of the baseball world, Ohtani’s 400-foot hit from the upper deck was the biggest story and brought him one step closer to the 50-50 story.

With 11 games left to play this season, Ohtani now needs two more home runs and home runs to reach that once-unimaginable milestone. For comparison, he hasn’t had an 11-game streak with fewer than two home runs since June 20-July 3, and he hasn’t had an 11-game streak with fewer than two home runs since May 21-June 4.

Of course, fifty-fifty is no guarantee.

But the bigger surprise at this point would be if Ohtani somehow didn’t make it.

Gonsolin “conversation” is imminent

At the beginning of the year, the Dodgers did not expect Tony Gonsolin to return this season after his Tommy John surgery.

But with Gonsolin continuing to make progress in his recovery and the Dodgers desperately needing all the pitching help they can get before October, the right-hander could still be an option.

Roberts announced Tuesday that Gonsolin will make his third minor league rehab appearance this weekend with Triple-A Oklahoma City. The club hopes Gonsolin can go four innings in that game.

If that goes well, Roberts said, the Dodgers could talk about signing Gonsolin before the end of the regular season – and then give him the opportunity to either start games or pitch many innings out of the bullpen in the final stretch and possibly into the playoffs.

Roberts acknowledged that Gonsolin is “less likely” to carry a significant load. Just a few weeks ago, he said Gonsolin would only join the team in a “crazy scenario.”

But the Dodgers’ current situation would certainly qualify that. They’ve already lost Tyler Glasnow for the season, Gavin Stone is unlikely to return from his shoulder injury, and Clayton Kershaw’s status is still uncertain as he battles a toe injury.

“It’s still a more unlikely proposition, but I’m really impressed that Tony really took this seriously as a potential opportunity,” Roberts said of Gonsolin, the 2022 All-Star who underwent Tommy John surgery last August. “He’ll make one more (rehab start), and then we’ll see.”