Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
While yesterday was an improvement for the Dodgers (56-34) following their 18-1 defeat in the series opener, they dropped the second game against the Astros (54-35) by a more reasonable score of 6-4. Chad detailed everything in his recap last night, but the main idea was that they weren’t sharp while Houston was, and the Dodgers’ seven series win streak came to an end. Emmet Sheehan is on the mound today making his return from Triple-A, slated to make his second start of the year with the big club. The rookie right-hander Ryan Gusto will make his 12th start for the Astros.
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| 1:10 P.M. | Los Angeles | ||
| DH | Paredes | DH | Ohtani (L) |
| CF | Meyers | SS | Betts |
| 2B | Altuve | 1B | Freeman (L) |
| RF | Smith | CF | Pages |
| 1B | Walker | LF | Conforto (L) |
| C | Diaz | 2B | Kim (L) |
| LF | Hummel (S) | 3B | Rojas |
| 3B | Dubón | C | Rushing (L) |
| SS | Short | RF | Ruiz |
| P | Gusto (R) | P | Sheehan (R) |
This is quite the lineup today for your Los Angeles Dodgers. The ever-so hated Houston Astros come to town, take your lunch money on Friday with an 18-1 defeat, win the series the following day, and while it’s annoying in particular to lose to THEM, Dave Roberts cares not for optimizing a lineup in early July for the sake of avoiding a sweep. It’s just another game to them, and this getaway day lineup showcases that.
Tommy Edman has the day off, as does Will Smith and Teoscar Hernández, in addition to the absence of Max Muncy. Esteury Ruiz gets his first start of the year, batting ninth and playing right field. Michael Conforto hits fifth for the first time since the middle of April. Hyeseong Kim hits higher than seventh for just the fifth time this year. Andy Pages bats cleanup for just the fifth time this season, (although deservedly so).
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The right-handed Gusto has been moved into the starting rotation as injuries continue to pile up for the Astros. He’s coming off back to back disappointing outings, most recently allowing four runs in four innings against the Chicago Cubs. Prior to that outing, he allowed five runs on six hits over six innings against the Angels, giving up two home runs, an issue he’s been fighting as of late. He’s notched seven or more strikeouts in three of his last four starts, but has also given up four homers in the same stretch.
He’s been solid this year for Houston despite underwhelming surface level numbers. He’s logged 64.1 innings pitched, alternating between the bullpen in a long relief role, in addition to appearances in the rotation, somewhat similar to the way Ben Casparius has been used this year. On the year he has a 4.90 ERA, 4.07 FIP, and a 1.49 WHIP, with 71 strikeouts to 23 walks, but has been significantly more effective out of the pen. Although he’s logged just 13.2 innings in relief, he has a 3.29 ERA, compared to a 5.33 ERA as a starter. It’s been due to his troubles facing the order a second and third time, with a 7.2 ERA the second time through the order, and a 7.71 ERA the third time through.
Sheehan had a solid season debut back on June 18, allowing one earned run on three hits and no walks against the Padres, racking up six strikeouts. He was then sent down to Triple-A to continue ramping up, in addition to keeping Justin Wrobleski with the Dodgers for the time being. He responded to that immediately, logging six perfect innings with 13 strikeouts in his first outing since being optioned to OKC. He followed that up with a 2.1 inning start in which he gave up four runs, but still looked sharp, just dealt with the realities of pitching in the Pacific Coast League.
Overall in Triple-A, he has 36 strikeouts and two walks in 19.2 innings pitched. That’s a 45.6% strikeout rate and 2.5% walk rate. Despite making just one start at the big league level, I’d assume that he’s relatively high up on the trust tree and could really make a case to remain in the rotation for the foreseeable future. Ben Casparius will be moving back to the bullpen into his previous role, while Justin Wrobleski has options and lacks the pedigree and stuff that Sheehan brings.
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Kyle Hurt is throwing off a mound in Arizona 👀
— Bruce Kuntz (@Bnicklaus7) July 6, 2025
The #Dodgers right-hander had Tommy John surgery last July pic.twitter.com/XKKaiOLs9o
Kyle Hurt said that he was targeting a rehab assignment at some point in August, so he could feasibly be a bullpen option down the stretch. He’s got quite the ceiling, especially as a reliever, so this is worth monitoring.
Looks like Teoscar and Edman are both dealing with some issues stemmed from yesterday’s game. Edman was hit by a breaking ball late in the game, while Teoscar foiled a ball off his foot. Hopefully they’re both fine.
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Makes sense. Thank you for your service Jack Little.
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First pitch is at 1:10 PT on SNLA.
