Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers ended their roadtrip in frustrating fashion, dropping the finale in Cleveland as Tanner Scott and Alex Vesia combined to allow five runs in the eighth for a 7-4 loss. This was extra frustrating as it wasn’t necessarily a terrible performance out of Scott, but he couldn’t put batters away and ended up getting BABIP’d to death (three singles with xBA’s of .100, .180 and .240). It was an annoying end to a great series in Cleveland and gave them a .500 road trip to start their brutal stretch of a schedule.
That continues today, as the Yankees come to town for a rematch of the 2024 World Series. The Yankees are 35-20 and coming off a sweep in Anaheim. They’ve had a pretty easy schedule of late and have handled their business, winning each of their last seven series and 16 of their last 20 games overall. Their +113 run differential is pretty easily the best in baseball (the Cubs are in second at +95) and they’re led by Aaron Judge, who’s been flirting with a .400 average all season (currently at .391) and has a 1.227 OPS, tops among qualified batters by nearly .200 points. They’ve also seen a resurgence from Paul Goldschmidt (.899 OPS) and even Trent Grisham (.875 OPS) has turned it around after some pretty down offensive seasons.
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| 7:10 P.M. | Los Angeles | ||
| CF | Grisham (L) | DH | Ohtani (L) |
| RF | Judge | RF | T. Hernández |
| LF | Bellinger (L) | C | Smith |
| 1B | Goldschmidt | 1B | Freeman (L) |
| DH | Rice (L) | CF | Pages |
| SS | Volpe | 2B | Edman (S) |
| C | Wells (L) | 3B | K. Hernández |
| 2B | Vivas (L) | LF | Conforto (L) |
| 3B | Peraza | SS | Rojas |
| P | Fried (L) | P | Gonsolin (R) |
Tony Gonsolin gets the ball looking to right the ship after a couple rough outings. He’s been doomed by bad innings in each of his last two starts, starting May 18 against the Angels. He allowed three in the first on a pair of homers, but gave the Dodgers the length they needed and got through five with only one other run allowed. Last time out against the Mets, he ran into trouble with two outs and a runner on in the fourth. Gonsolin issued two walks to load the bases, then allowed an RBI single and a two-run double that ended with the third out of the inning at home. He’s struggled with his control in his last two outings, with eight of his 12 walks this season coming in the last two games. The Yankees are the only team in baseball with a higher walk rate than the Dodgers (unsure if Fangraphs includes intentional walks in that but Judge does get Bonds’d sometimes). Gonsolin’s faced the Yankees once in his career and allowed a run and two hits in five innings.
Max Fried gets the start in his hometown after an offseason of rumors of him potentially becoming a Dodger. The Dodgers opted for Blake Snell, and Fried went to the Yankees where he’s been great to start the season. The Yankees have won 10 of Fried’s 11 starts and he’s only allowed 10 earned runs in 70 innings. He’s only allowed more than one run three times this season and has completed five or more innings in each of his last 10 starts (and has gone seven or more five times). Fried’s only allowed three homers this season, but does have the sixth-lowest HR/FB rate (5.2 percent) which could mean he’s due for regression. His 88.4 MPH average exit velocity is in the 70th percentile, but is also his highest allowed since 2019. He’s coming off a very strong start in Colorado, where he allowed a run and six hits over 7 1/3 innings and only threw 83 pitches. Fried faced the Dodgers 10 times in the regular season during his eight seasons with Atlanta and posted a 3.18 ERA and allowed a .591 OPS in those starts.
Fried primarily throws a four-seamer (41.8 percent, his highest since 2020), sinker (19.5 percent), curve (14.5 percent) and sweeper (11.7 percent). He’s also dabbled with a change, cutter and slider and all his pitches besides the slider have a whiff rate of 20 percent or higher.
Mookie Betts is out of the lineup, with Miguel Rojas getting the start at short. Betts is day-to-day and will be having an x-ray on his toe.
Mookie Betts stubbed his toe at home on Wednesday night, Dave Roberts said. Will be going for x-rays. Roberts said he’s “day to day,” but was in too much discomfort to play today.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) May 30, 2025
He was in the original lineup posted in the clubhouse, but was scratched after dealing with pain just putting on his shoe. With a lefty on the hill, Max Muncy sits with Enrique Hernandez starting at third.
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Some bullpen injury updates on Evan Phillips and Kirby Yates.
Evan Phillips is undergoing Tommy John surgery, Dave Roberts said. Tried playing catch a couple days ago and it “didn’t go well.” His season is over.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) May 30, 2025
Phillips was placed on the 60-day IL yesterday, and now he’ll have Tommy John next week. That’ll probably keep him out for most (if not all) of the 2026 season which is his final arb year, so there’s a chance we’ve seen the last of Phillips in a Dodger uniform. Hopefully that’s not the case, but this is another sizable hit to the bullpen.
In positive bullpen news, Yates threw off the mound today for the first time and could be back soon.
Kirby Yates said that was his first time throwing off the mound since going on the IL. Hasn’t felt any discomfort in the hamstring since a couple days after he hurt it. They’ll see how he feels tomorrow, but optimistic he won’t miss much more time. https://t.co/4S2hyZx26y
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) May 30, 2025
His hammy’s been feeling better since he left his outing on May 17.
Michael Kopech also theoretically checked his final box in his rehab. He threw the second leg of his first back-to-back outing yesterday for OKC, throwing eight pitches and allowing a single but recording a strikeout. His rehab has not gone well numbers-wise, and his command has been not good (he threw more balls than strikes in four of his eight outings), but his velo is there and he still provides an insane amount of upside if they can get him where he was last season.
Edgardo Henriquez also threw his first rehab outing last night for OKC. He also struggled, walking two and allowing a double and a run in 2/3rds of an inning. He did top out at 101.8 MPH, so that’s fun at least.
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If you missed it yesterday, Alexis Diaz is a Dodger. Dustin wrote about it yesterday, and despite losing a former Dirtbag (#gobeach), this is a nice low-risk high-upside play. If the Dodgers can work their pitching lab magic and return Diaz to even close to what he was, it’ll be a huge boost to the bullpen.
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First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM PT and will be shown exclusively on Apple TV+. Another weekend without SportsNet LA, as tomorrow’s game is on FOX and Sunday is on ESPN.
