Angels 11, Dodgers 9: Pitching staff implosion continues as Will Smith rots on the bench in high-leverage

Chad Moriyama 05/17/2025 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

After winning two in a row, the Dodgers have now dropped two in a row. The bats did enough, but the pitching staff continued to implode in Clayton Kershaw‘s season debut. The offense did have their chances late, but they decided to give them to Miguel Rojas and Michael Conforto instead of the guys they had on the bench for whatever reason in an 11-9 loss to the Angels.

First double-digit run game from the Angels since April 10. Embarrassing, lol.

— Chad Moriyama (@chadmoriyama.bsky.social) May 17, 2025 at 5:49 PM

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Well, the first inning was certainly eventful.

Things didn’t get off to a great start for Clayton Kershaw in his return despite him striking out the first batter he faced.

That’s because he followed that by giving up a single and walking the next two to load the bases, and then gave up a single to Logan O’Hoppe to score the first two runs of the game. After a flyout put him on the verge of escape, he then gave up a double to Matthew Lugo to plate another run and make it 3-0 Angels. The Dodgers also had an embarrassing showing on a rundown, and were fortunate to not have them cost any more damage.

Fortunately, Tyler Anderson started similarly for the Angels, as after a lead-off strikeout there were back-to-back singles from Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. That setup Andy Pages, who bombed a homer to dead center for his ninth dinger of the year to tie things up at 3-3 just like that.

A little fun in the dugout.

Kershaw and Anderson also mirrored each other in the 2nd, as both got 1-2-3 innings. That streak was broken up to start the 3rd when Taylor Ward homered to left to give the Angels a 4-3 lead.

As the Dodger bats remained quiet in their half of the 3rd, the Angels added another in the 4th. A one-out walk and double put a pair in scoring position, and it took an amazing play by Pages crashing into a wall in right to limit the damage against Kershaw to a sac fly and make it 5-3 Angels.

That was it for Kershaw, who didn’t look sharp, but in a way it was just promising that his velocity didn’t look significantly worse than last year: 4 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 3 BB, 2 K, 83 Pitches.

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Against Anderson, the Dodgers tried to get back into it in the 4th, and they got a run back on an Enrique Hernandez homer (7th) to cut the deficit to 5-4.

After stranding a single and wild pitch with one out in the 5th, Anderson was finally out of the game on 104 pitches.

He was pushed because the Angels pen is a mess, which they showed immediately in the 6th. Enrique and Conforto drew back-to-back walks, which was followed by Dalton Rushing ripping a ground-rule double for his first MLB RBI to tie the game at 5-5.

Conforto then scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch, and after an infield single from Rojas that cornered the runners, Shohei Ohtani came up … and grounded into a double play that scored another run but missed out on a big chance. A walk and stolen base followed, but they couldn’t add on further. 7-5 Dodgers.

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On the other end was the Dodgers pen, which at least began well as Ben Casparius started with a clean 5th on 10 pitches. However, he had a more eventful 6th, as after a lead-off single, Rushing erased that on a strike ’em out, throw ’em out double play for his first MLB caught stealing.

That was followed by a Max Muncy error, but he worked around that to complete the 6th.

The 7th … well it didn’t go as planned. Back-to-back doubles to Zach Neto and Nolan Schanuel scored a run, and after Casparius got a strikeout, Dave Roberts turned to Kirby Yates. He had a disaster, as he gave up a single to corner the runners, then surrendered a three-run shot to O’Hoppe that put the Angels up 9-7.

A double followed to get Yates immediately back in trouble, and after he got a second out, he issued a walk to put a pair on and then exited with hamstring issues.

Kirby Yates exits with hamstring problems.

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— Chad Moriyama (@chadmoriyama.bsky.social) May 17, 2025 at 5:42 PM

What a disaster.

Anthony Banda entered from the pen and went back to the pen at that point due to some amusing miscommunication or something.

Getting back to disaster, Luis Garcia then entered and allowed a single to score a run to make it 10-7 Angels, then he walked a batter to load the bases before getting out of the 7th.

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In their half of the 7th, the Dodgers clawed a run back after two outs, as Enrique walked, Conforto reached on a generous infield single, and Rushing came through again with a single to make it 10-8, but that was all as Rojas struck out and they choose not to pinch-hit.

After Tanner Scott cruised through a 12-pitch 8th where he struck out two, the Dodgers put together another two-out rally in their half. Back-to-back-to-back singles from Freddie, Pages, and Muncy cut the deficit to 10-9.

It almost looked like they pitched around Enrique for a walk to load the bases for Conforto … and that worked as he grounded out weakly to second that ended the 8th. Could’ve gone with a pinch-hitter there as well … but no.

Alex Vesia entered to get the 9th and gave up a homer to make it 11-9, and he’s apparently dinger prone now.

In the 9th, Will Smith pinch-hit and worked a seven-pitch single, which would’ve been nice to have in high leverage, but that was all they got.

Swell.

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NL WestRecordGB
Dodgers29-17–
Padres27-171.0
Giants27-192.0

The Freeway Series concludes tomorrow in an early Sunday game at 10:10 AM HT/1:10 PM PT/4:10 PM ET. It’ll be Tony Gonsolin looking to continue his great start to the year against Yusei Kikuchi.

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