Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The game wasn’t exactly expected to be a pitchers’ duel with Dustin May and Jake Irvin on the mound, both having solid if unspectacular seasons, which you would’ve known thanks to the Game Thread from earlier. Nevertheless, the story of the game was Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman going 1-for-12 with six strikeouts, though the long ball was also a theme, with a total of eight home runs being hit tonight.
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The game started off quietly, with both sides held scoreless for the first three innings, with the only early offense being doubles by Will Smith and Keibert Ruiz, both of whom were left stranded. James Wood started the scoring in the fourth inning with his 21st home run of the season, an absolute missile to center. Not many balls land where this one did, he’s a special talent. It happens.
James Wood leaves us speechless 😮
— MLB (@MLB) June 22, 2025
This majestic shot just went 451 feet 💥 pic.twitter.com/FTb9nIRVfm
What was less defensible however, was the next pitch he threw, a sinker in the wheelhouse to the lefty second baseman with limited power, Luis García Jr.
The Dodgers nearly answered back by a stroke of luck as Jacob Young lost a Max Muncy fly ball in the lights, only to have right fielder Daylen Lile make a great catch in center, realizing Young couldn’t find the ball.
MUST SEE: Wherever you thought this baseball was going to end up … you were wrong 👀 pic.twitter.com/yMD5R0TvpX
— MLB (@MLB) June 22, 2025
With the way the offense was performing as a whole tonight, the Dodgers needed that to drop. Lile then proceeded to draw a lead-off walk, stole second, and advanced to third on a single by Ruiz. May answered back however, locking in to strikeout both CJ Abrams and Garcia Jr. to get out of the jam.
Andy Pages got the Dodgers on the board in the bottom of the fifth with a solo shot, as the Dodgers seemed to be getting to Irvin. Pages brought the Dodgers within one with that aforementioned homer, while Tommy Edman and Mookie both added singles. The issue was that those singles were book-ended with Shohei and Freddie strikeouts. The struggles from the MVPs in the order continue to let the offense down.
Can't stop Andy!
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 22, 2025
🗳: https://t.co/SSqaZ7aq1V pic.twitter.com/ZmSnSOuERc
May was looking to get through six innings allowing just two earned runs, but Nathaniel Lowe had other ideas, greeting May with a solo shot in the top of the sixth inning.
May wasn’t great, but the control was better than the last few outings, and ultimately his quality start put the Dodgers in a spot to win if the top three decided to do anything. His final line was six innings, three earned runs on three solo home runs with five strikeouts.
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Will Smith added his second extra-base hit of the evening and ninth homer of the year to lead-off the bottom of the sixth inning, once again bringing the Dodgers within one run.
3rd HR in the last 5 games for the Fresh Prince 😎#LetsGoDodgers pic.twitter.com/FjUgzDkxMt
— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) June 22, 2025
Things got a bit dicey in the top of the seventh for Jack Dreyer, allowing two earned runs as the Dodgers were just unable to get a shutdown inning after finding a way to put runs on the board. Keibert reached three times, this time with a ground-rule double, while Abrams proceeded to hit a home run in his second consecutive game, bringing the score to 5-2.
This time however, the Dodgers didn’t answer back in the bottom of the seventh, and instead went down quietly while Lowe was getting ready to lead-off the eighth inning with his second home run of the game. Lou Trivino gave up the lead-off homer to Lowe, but also allowed a single to Josh Bell before leaving the game in favor of Will Klein. Klein’s Dodger debut came with a runner on first base who immediately reach third via a Lile double, and Ruiz added the seventh run of the night for the Nationals via sac-fly. 7-2 Nationals.
Teoscar Hernández added the eighth and final home run of the game in the ninth inning as the team weakly attempted to muster a comeback, but ultimately that fell flat.
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| NL West | Record | GB |
|---|---|---|
| Dodgers | 47-31 | – |
| Giants | 43-34 | 3.5 |
| Padres | 41-35 | 5.0 |
Tomorrow’s game will be at will be at 1:10 PT on SNLA, and the pitching matchup will be Mike Soroka up against Ohtani and whoever throws bulk innings behind him.
