Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers somehow won the Dustin May/Nick Pivetta showdown despite May turning in one of his worst starts of the season. The offense overcame his six runs allowed (one unearned) in five innings with a season-high four walks and a (tied for) season low one strikeout. The bullpen allowed one hit one walk and one Manfred run over five innings and Andy Pages and Tommy Edman came up with big hits in the 10th for an 8-7 win. It was good to see the offense and bullpen come through, and it guarantees the Dodgers will leave San Diego at least tied with the Padres in the NL West (the Giants could theoretically jump both teams by Friday when they come to LA). They go for the series win tonight and turn to a bullpen game to take Tony Gonsolin‘s turn in the rotation.
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| 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) |
| 3B | Muncy (L) | DH | Sheets (L) |
| CF | Pages | SS | Bogaerts |
| LF | Conforto (L) | 2B | Cronenworth (L) |
| 2B | Edman (S) | LF | Wade (L) |
| C | Rushing (L) | C | Maldonado |
| P | Trivino (R) | P | Cease (R) |
The bullpen game starts with Lou Trivino, but Matt Sauer is up from OKC and expected to take the bulk role. Sauer’s made seven appearances in the Majors this season including one start against the A’s, where he allowed two runs and two hits over four innings. He threw 40 or more pitches in four of those seven appearances and topped out at 78 pitches over the final five innings in a 15-2 win over Miami. Sauer last pitched at OKC a week ago and threw a season-high 82 pitches over 4 2/3 innings. Anthony Banda threw two innings last night and Kirby Yates threw 20 pitches yesterday after also throwing Sunday in St. Louis. Tanner Scott has thrown back to back days as well, so they might try to avoid using him. They also won’t be using Jose Ureña, as he was DFA’d for Sauer.
Dylan Cease gets the ball for the Padres and is having a rough contract year. His ERA hasn’t been under 3.38 yet this season, and the only time it was under 4.50 was after his second start of the season. He’s currently at a 4.72 despite a 3.20 FIP and a top-10 strikeout rate among qualified starters (29.1 percent). He’s only pitched past the fifth inning in four of his 13 starts after doing so in 23 of his 33 starts last season. He’s allowed exactly three runs in each of his last four starts but did complete a season-high seven innings in the first of those starts. Cease has been pretty good against the Dodgers in his four career starts with a 2.61 ERA in 20 2/3 innings. Two of those came with the White Sox, and the first one was a weird one back in 2022. He threw four shutout innings, and a fifth inning error extended the inning and allowed the Dodgers to score six unearned runs off Cease. He saw the Dodgers twice in the regular season last year and allowed four runs in 10 2/3 innings with 10 strikeouts and six walks. He also saw the Dodgers twice in the NLDS and it did not go well for him. He allowed five runs in 3 1/3 in Game 1 and squandered the Padres putting up five on Yoshinobu Yamamoto. He also took the loss in Game 4, allowing three runs in 1 2/3 against a Dodger bullpen game (do that again, IMO).
Cease is primarily a two-pitch pitcher, throwing a slider 49.4 percent of the time and a fastball 37.7 percent of the time. His slider has been excellent, with a 43 percent whiff rate and .207 average/.350 slugging against (expected numbers .202 and .360). The fastball’s been the issue, with a .292 average/.500 slugging against (expected .284 and .498). He’s also mixed in a knuckle curve, change, sinker and sweeper.
Michael Conforto returns to left field today with Pages in center and Hyeseong Kim sitting. Will Smith also sits, with Dalton Rushing starting behind the plate and a 1:10 start time tomorrow.
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Big rehabbing pitchers day, with Shohei Ohtani throwing his third live BP and Blake Snell throwing his first bullpen.
Shohei Ohtani just completed three simulated innings here at Petco Park against minor leaguers. Had him at 44 pitches, with six strikeouts, a walk, a base hit allowed (grounder up the middle) and a wild pitch. Got a couple ground outs and a fly out to center.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) June 10, 2025
Ohtani threw 44 pitches/three innings after delaying his throw day to today after a rainy weekend in St Louis and a HBP on Sunday. He got 15 whiffs in this session and issued a walk and allowed a single. For the first time, there’s not a stated possibility of him returning before the All-Star break.
Chances of his return pre-break are now “north of zero”, which could be a huge boost. Hopefully they aren’t rushing him back
Snell threw 15 fastballs at about 70 percent intensity and said it went well. The plan is to throw 20 pitches off the mound on Friday to keep building up. Snell is two weeks pain-free, he said. https://t.co/OBQADfDOo1
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) June 10, 2025
Snell threw all fastballs and plans to work up to 20 pitches off a mound when the Dodgers return home on Friday. He apparently hasn’t had pain in two weeks, so hopefully he escapes this bullpen pain-free and he can continue to build back up.
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First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 PM PT and will be shown on SportsNet LA.
