Dodgers @ Padres June 9, 2025: Dodgers get their first look at San Diego, Sheehan potentially nearing a return

The Dodgers salvaged a rough series in St. Louis that started with two losses where they scored one run combined. They took the finale 7-3 and improved to 3-14 with runners in scoring position after going 1-25 in the first two games.

The win kept the Dodgers in first in the NL West heading into their first look at the Padres. The Padres (and Giants) are a game back of the Dodgers heading into action tonight and are coming off a series win in Milwaukee. Their staff shut the Brewers out twice in that series, but Milwaukee walked off with a 4-3 win on Saturday. Their offense wasn’t exactly clicking in that series (six runs total, three combined in their two wins), and it hasn’t been very strong all season. They have the second-fewest runs scored in the division only ahead of the Rockies and their .687 team OPS is only ahead of eight teams in baseball. They strike out less than all but two other teams, but per Baseball Savant they have the lowest hard hit rate in baseball (36.3 percent). The Padres took eight of 13 last season against the Dodgers and had a 2-1 series lead in the NLDS, but the Dodgers shut them out over the final two games for the comeback to start their World Series run.

	6:40 PM		San Diego
DH	Ohtani (L)	RF	Tatis Jr.
SS	Betts	1B	Arraez (L)
1B	Freeman (L)	3B	Machado
RF	T. Hernández	CF	Merrill (L)
C	Smith	DH	Sheets (L)
3B	Muncy (L)	SS	Bogaerts
LF	Pages	2B	Cronenworth (L)
2B	Edman (S)	LF	Wade (L)
CF	Kim (L)	C	Díaz
P	May (R)	P	Pivetta (R)

Dustin May gets the ball after a solid six innings against the Mets. May allowed two runs over six innings and surpassed his career-high for innings pitched in a season with 61 2/3. May’s given the Dodgers five or more innings in each of his 11 starts and has yet to throw more than 100 pitches in a game, which is kind of impressive. He’s struck out nearly three times as many batters as he’s walked (63 to 22) and after walking three batters in four of his first five starts, he’s walked two or fewer in his last six. He’s faced the Padres more than any other team in baseball (12) and allowed 22 earned runs (28 total) in 59 career innings, with nine of those runs coming over two rough starts in September 2022.

Nick Pivetta had an great start to his Padre career with a 1.78 ERA/2.27 FIP though his first six starts. He’s fallen back to earth a bit six starts later with a 4.64 ERA since April ended. Almost all of that can be attributed to two starts where he allowed 11 runs in 10 innings, one in Colorado and one in San Francisco. He’s only allowed seven runs in six starts at Petco with 44 strikeouts and only four walks issued. Pivetta’s coming off his rough start in San Francisco, allowing five runs and six hits in six innings to bump his season ERA to 3.16. He faced the Dodgers twice in the past two years for Boston, with a rough relief appearance in 2023 and a strong start in 2024. He allowed four hits and four runs in two innings of relief in 2023 for a blown save and loss, but threw six shutout innings with only two hits and one walk allowed last July in LA.

Pivetta mainly leans on a fastball, curve and sweeper. He throws his fastball nearly half the time (48.5 percent) and averages 93.7 MPH on it. He’s only allowed a .194 average and .323 slugging off the fastball, but the expected numbers are less impressive (.248 and .458, respectively). The same can be said for his curve, with a .214 average and .286 slugging but .254 xBA and .433 xSLG off it. He’s also thrown a sinker, slider and cutter each less than 10 percent of the time. Freddie Freeman‘s had success against Pivetta in his career, with a .940 OPS in 39 plate appearances. Michael Conforto only has two hits in 13 plate appearances against Pivetta, but both hits were homers.

Conforto sits against a righty for only the second time this season. Hyeseong Kim starts in center and Andy Pages slides over to left with Teoscar Hernandez in right.

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Tomorrow’s starter is TBD, but Matt Sauer is with the team in San Diego.

Hello from San Diego

Matt Sauer is here with the Dodgers today. They’ll need some pitching for tomorrow in what was supposed to be Tony Gonsolin’s start pic.twitter.com/dAaY5VEW3Z

— Jack Harris (@ByJackHarris) June 9, 2025

Sauer last threw at AAA last Tuesday, so he’s slot in nicely to give the Dodgers some length tomorrow. He threw a season-high 82 pitches in that outing and did make a start back in May against the A’s.

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Emmet Sheehan could be close to returning.

Emmet Sheehan’s next rehab outing should be at least four innings, Dave Roberts said. From there, there could be a conversation about him being a rotation option with the big league club.

— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) June 9, 2025

Sheehan made his third rehab outing on Saturday and allowed a run and two hits in three innings. The goal is to get him through four in his next outing, at which point he could be back in the Majors. He threw 57 pitches on Saturday, so he seems a few weeks from being ready.

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First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 PM PT and will be shown on SportsNet LA.