Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers (3-0) hung on just long enough to beat the Detroit Tigers (0-1) by a score of 5-4 in their home opener. The reigning American League Cy Young and pitching Triple Crown winner, Tarik Skubal, was on the mound for Detroit, up against the two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell, making his Dodger debut. Both pitchers were sharp early besides a solo shot by Tommy Edman, but Snell gave in first making it through just five innings despite being at just 41 pitches through three innings. He kept the game close, buying the offense time to get to Skubal, which they did with a three-run homer by Teoscar Hernández in the bottom of the fifth inning. The Tigers scored a run off of Alex Vesia and Tanner Scott, but a seventh inning solo homer off the bat of Shohei Ohtani proved to be enough to get the job done.
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| 7:10 P.M. | Los Angeles | ||
| 2B | Torres | DH | Ohtani (L) |
| RF | Carpenter (L) | SS | Betts |
| LF | Greene (L) | 1B | Freeman (L) |
| DH | Torkelson | RF | T. Hernández |
| 1B | Keith (L) | 3B | Muncy (L) |
| 3B | McKinstry (L) | 2B | Edman (S) |
| C | Dingler | LF | Conforto (L) |
| SS | Sweeney (L) | CF | Pages |
| CF | Kreidler | C | Barnes |
| P | Flaherty (R) | P | Yamamoto (R) |
Detroit had a mediocre offense in 2024 with a 95 wRC+ and .685 OPS, despite a hot second half and a solid playoff run. Adding Gleyber Torres should help, but this offense doesn’t particularly strike fear into opposing pitching staffs. Riley Greene posted a 149 wRC+ and .873 OPS against right-handed pitchers last year, while Kerry Carpenter absolutely torched right-handed pitching, with a 176 wRC+ and .993 OPS. I think they should give him time to see if he can hit left-handed pitching, because if he’s passable against them he could be an offensive force in the middle of the order for years to come. Spencer Torkelson reached all five times in yesterday’s game, with four walks and a solo homer, so finding a way to prevent him from repeating that would be pleasant. Manuel Margot (former Dodger, briefly) added two hits of his own, as did newly acquired second baseman Gleyber Torres.
Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman both made their season debuts yesterday, with Mookie recovering from his stomach bug, and Freeman from left rib discomfort. Betts went 1-3 with a walk and a run scored, while Freeman was 0-4. Kiké Hernández is still out with his version of the stomach issue, and Will Smith will have the day off on his birthday. Edman and Ohtani lead baseball with two homers. Michael Conforto will get the start in left field against the right-handed Flaherty, and when the whole squad is healthy, it’ll be interesting to see how much run he gets against left-handed pitching.
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Here’s how Yamamoto and Flaherty fared in 2024.
Yamamoto earned the win in his first outing of the year in the season opener against the Cubs in Tokyo. He went five innings allowing just one run on three hits and one walk with four strikeouts. He cruised through five, needing just 72 pitches to set the team up for the win. His outing in Korea last year to start his career was rough, so it was nice for Yamamoto’s season to get started on the right track this year. His last time out he threw 40% splitters and 40% four-seam fastballs, his highest usage of the splitter in his MLB career, throwing it 24.2% in 2024. He also threw just nine curveballs (12.5%), the fourth lowest rate of any single game in his MLB career, after throwing it 23.1% of the time in 2024. He mixed in just a few of his three other pitches, the cutter, sinker, and slider, so it’s worth keeping an eye on his pitch usage as the season progresses. As not much has changed in three games, here’s Alex’s excerpt on Yamamoto prior to the season opener.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto starts the season for the Dodgers following a pretty good rookie season. Yamamoto began his career in the Seoul Series, starting the second game against the Padres in 2024 and getting roughed up. He allowed four hits and five runs and needed 43 pitches to complete his one and only inning of the start. Fortunately, things got better once they returned stateside as Yamamoto posted a 2.53 ERA/2.58 FIP in 17 starts post-Seoul. His season hit a snag during the cursed series against the Royals in July, when he left his start after only two innings with triceps soreness that would cost him about three months (this coming the day before Mookie Betts got hit on the hand and missed nearly two months). Yamamoto returned in September to build up for the postseason, and after a shaky start he was pretty good in October. He got the ball in Game 1 of the NLDS and looked to continue the Dodger starting pitching woes in the playoffs, allowing three runs in the top of the first against the Padres. He got through three innings and the Dodgers managed to come back in that game. Yamamoto also got the ball in Game 5 and was nails, tossing five shutout innings in a 2-0 series-clinching victory. He allowed two runs over 4 1/3 innings in the NLCS against the Mets and took the ball in Game 2 of the World Series, where he pitched into the seventh and only allowed one hit, a solo homer to Juan Soto. Yamamoto shut down the Cubs both times he faced them last season. He only allowed one unearned run over nine innings and allowed six hits and two walks while striking out 16.
Jack Flaherty will start the year with the Detroit Tigers once again, but this time with a World Series Championship under his belt. Last offseason he signed a one-year deal with the Tigers for 2024 after a poor season with St. Louis and Baltimore in 2023 left him with minimal options. He started incredibly strong with Detroit, and was the best starter available at the deadline (excluding Garrett Crochet who wasn’t really available). He slowed down once getting to Los Angeles, likely due to his workload as he threw the most innings he had since 196.1 in 2019. He wasn’t an ace, but he stabilized a rotation that desperately needed it.
He had a 3.58 ERA over 55.2 innings pitched across 10 starts in the regular season with the Dodgers, but took on the task of frontline starter in the postseason for a staff decimated by injuries. His final line from October looks bad, with a 7.36 ERA, 6.71 FIP, and 1.50 WHIP across 22.0 innings and five starts, but the team was so desperate for innings and starts that he was still a major help. He got lit up in three of the five starts, but his performances in Game 1 of the NLCS and Game 1 of the World Series set the tone for both of those series. He kept Game 1 of the World Series close enough to eventually set the stage for the Freddie Freeman walk-off grand slam. As the offseason progressed, it became increasingly clear that there likely wouldn’t be room for Flaherty to return to Los Angeles, and he ended up back in Detroit on a two-year deal, an organization he was comfortable with and helped revitalize his career.
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Not that reinforcements are needed necessarily, but it’ll be nice getting Evan Phillips, Tony Gonsolin, and Michael Kopech back in the relatively near future. Clayton Kershaw is still quite some time away, as expected.
The team can handle Kiké’s absence, but it’s nice that he’s able to receive his ring during the ceremony. He definitely deserves it.
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First pitch is at 7:10 PT on SNLA.
