Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers failed to complete another sweep last night, as Yoshinobu Yamamoto struggled and the Dodger bats got shut down by Ryan Yarbrough in a 7-3 loss. Tonight, the Dodgers open up a four game series with the Mets after dropping two of three to them in Queens last weekend. The Dodgers won the opener of that series in 13 innings after blowing a three-run lead in the ninth, but lost the final two games of the series and only scored three runs in those two games. The Mets won five of the six games they’ve played since seeing the Dodgers, but that comes with a huge asterisk as they played the White Sox and Rockies. Still, they now sit at 37-22, a game ahead of the Dodgers in the standings and tied with the Cubs for the best record in the NL.
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| 7:10 P.M. | Los Angeles | ||
| SS | Lindor (S) | DH | Ohtani (L) |
| LF | Nimmo (L) | RF | T. Hernández |
| RF | Soto (L) | 1B | Freeman (L) |
| 1B | Alonso | CF | Pages |
| DH | Young (L) | 3B | Muncy (L) |
| 3B | Baty (L) | LF | Conforto (L) |
| CF | Taylor | 2B | Edman (S) |
| 2B | McNeil (L) | C | Rushing (L) |
| C | Alvarez | SS | Kim (L) |
| P | Blackburn (R) | P | May (R) |
Dustin May gets his 11th start of the season. He was solid last time out in Cleveland, where he allowed three runs over five innings and struck out a season-high nine. May allowed a baserunner in each of the first three innings and finally got bitten in the fourth, where a single and a walk got cashed in on a Daniel Schneemann dong for May’s three earned runs. May hadn’t struck out more than seven batters in a game since August 2022 (only 21 starts in that time due to injuries), but has now done so in each of his last three starts. While the strikeouts have been up, May only allowed one homer in five April starts but allowed six in five starts in May (at least one in each start). May put together a very strong 2023 season before his arm blew out, but his lone bad start of the season came against the Mets in LA. May only allowed 14 runs in nine starts (including one one-inning start where he got injured) that season, but five of those runs came against the Mets on April 17. May allowed five runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings and only struck out one batter in that game.
Paul Blackburn makes his first start since last August after a number of injury issues. The Mets traded for Blackburn at the deadline and he made five starts before taking a comebacker in San Diego. Fortunately, Blackburn did get his hand in front of his face and blocked the comebacker, but it still landed him on the IL. He was set to return in September but was shut down with a spinal fluid leak, which is definitely a thing I knew was possible and not a brand new fear. Blackburn was also dealing with a knee issue this season and made his first rehab start near the end of April. Blackburn allowed 12 runs and 19 hits in 29 1/3 innings in seven rehab starts spread out across three levels. Blackburn spent most of his career in Oakland but hasn’t faced the Dodgers in his career yet.
Blackburn isn’t much of a strikeout pitcher, with only one season above a 20 percent strikeout rate (2023, a 22.4 percent strikeout rate). He used to be a sinkerballer, but has used it less and less over the last three seasons with a career-low 13.6 percent usage last season. He did up his sinker usage in his final three starts with the Mets, but since 2021 his most used pitch has been his cutter (22 percent usage last season). He also threw a four seamer 19.5 percent, change 18.1 percent, slider 16.7 percent and curve 10.1 percent of the time. Despite only throwing it 19.5 percent of the time, six of the 12 homers Blackburn served up came off his four seamer.
Mookie Betts remains out of the lineup, but ran and played defense before the game and could be back in the lineup tomorrow. He also could be available to pinch hit tonight if needed. Hyeseong Kim gets the start at short, and Dalton Rushing catches after Will Smith caught all three against the Yankees.
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The Dodgers shuffled their bullpen and made a minor trade earlier today. They traded reliever Joe Jacques to the Mariners for Will Klein, who is active. They also designated Chris Stratton for assignment, and recalled Ryan Loutos.
The Dodgers acquired RHP Will Klein from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for minor league pitcher Joe Jacques. The Dodgers also recalled right-handed Ryan Loutos and optioned RHP Noah Davis. In order to make room on the roster for Klein, the Dodgers designated RHP Chris Stratton…
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 2, 2025
Klein posted monster strikeout numbers in the minors (344 strikeouts in 242 2/3 innings over five minor league seasons), but struggled in his short time in the Majors. Last season, Klein threw 7 1/3 major league innings and allowed nine runs with only seven strikeouts and six walks as a Royal and A. The Mariners got him in January and he struggled in 22 appearances at AAA, allowing 17 runs in 21 1/3 innings. He still managed to strike out 32 batters so there might be something interesting there. Jacques was some minor league depth the Dodgers signed after a couple rough stints with Boston and an inning with Arizona last season. He had a 6.04 ERA in 22 1/3 innings at OKC this season.
Loutos returns after a rough first outing with LA. He allowed two runs and three hits in his only inning of work in the Majors this season, but has only allowed two runs in 10 2/3 for OKC. Stratton pitched in both games this weekend and allowed a run in both outings, two total over three innings.
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Some unsettling news on Tyler Glasnow.
Dave Roberts said Tyler Glasnow has felt body soreness in catch play lately, and isn’t sure when he’ll throw another bullpen (he threw one while the Dodgers were on the road last week):
— Jack Harris (@ByJackHarris) June 2, 2025
“He’s just as frustrated as we all are the process, since we’ve had him, hasn’t been linear.”
Glasnow threw a bullpen but his body isn’t bouncing back from it very well. Roberts went on to say the shoulder seems to be fine, but Glasnow’s having soreness in his body and they’re pausing his rehab.
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First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM PT and will be shown on SportsNet LA.
