Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers capped off an awful weekend yesterday with a 5-1 loss to secure a sweep against the Astros. They’d won nine of 10 heading into the weekend, but were thoroughly outplayed and scored six runs total in the three games. They fell a game behind the Tigers for the best record in baseball, but are still seven up in the NL West.
Today, they kick off the final week before the All-Star Break with a six-game road trip, starting in Milwaukee. The Brewers are overachieving like they kind of always do at 50-40, good for the second Wild Card spot in the NL and four games behind the Cubs in the NL Central. They return home after a .500 road trip, dropping two of three against the Mets before heading to Miami to win two of three. Brandon Woodruff returned for the Brewers yesterday after nearly two years dealing with shoulder surgery and various smaller injuries and shoved, tossing six innings of one-run ball. Fortunately, the Dodgers won’t face him in this series but they will face a pretty good pitcher today.
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| 4:40 PM | Milwaukee | ||
| DH | Ohtani (L) | RF | Frelick (L) |
| SS | Betts | C | Contreras |
| 1B | Freeman (L) | CF | Chourio |
| C | Smith | DH | Yelich (L) |
| RF | Pages | 1B | Vaughn |
| LF | Conforto (L) | LF | Collins (S) |
| 2B | Kim (L) | 2B | Turang (L) |
| 3B | Rojas | 3B | Durbin |
| CF | Outman (L) | SS | Monasterio |
| P | Yamamoto (R) | P | Peralta (R) |
The Dodgers have a pretty good pitcher of their own on the hill today. The newly-named All Star Yoshinobu Yamamoto makes his 17th start of the season. Yama had been struggling a bit, but has bounced back nicely in his last two starts against some extremely bad offenses. Yamamoto allowed one hit over five shutout innings in Colorado before a rain delay forced him out of the game, and then last time out he allowed a run and three hits over seven innings against the White Sox. He’d begun to struggle with his command, with a 9.5 percent walk rate through his first 14 starts (which would be the 10th-highest among qualified pitchers right now). He’s been much more Yamamoto-like in his last three starts, only walking three percent of the batters he’s faced in that time. Again, he hasn’t exactly been facing murderer’s row of late. It’s still been a nice stretch for Yamamoto, and now he puts that to the test against another team in the bottom half of the league in team OPS (.703, tied for the 19th-best in baseball).
Freddy Peralta gets his 19th start of the season and his seven career (regular season) start against the Dodgers. Peralta’s only allowed a .667 OPS and has a 3.30 ERA in his career against the Dodgers. Most of that damage came last season, when the Dodgers had some success against him for the first time. They scored three runs in four innings off Peralta last July in LA and scored four in six innings in Milwaukee in August. He’d only allowed four earned runs in 20 innings over four career starts against the Dodgers heading into last season, so that did some damage to the ERA.
Peralta was named to his second career All Star team with a 2.91 ERA/3.83 FIP over 99 innings. Still quite a way to go this season, but his ERA would be the second-best of his eight-year career. It’s actually the highest ERA he’s had since his first start this season with three consecutive not-phenomenal starts. Peralta’s completed five innings in 17 of his 18 starts this season. The one time he didn’t wasn’t a terrible start (one earned run/one unearned in 4 1/3 in Pittsburgh), but the Pirates did make him throw 101 pitches to record those 13 outs. He’s allowed eight runs in 16 innings over his last three games, allowing three in five innings in both of his final two June starts and two runs in six innings last time out against the Mets.
Peralta’s thrown a four-seamer 57.6 percent of the time and has averaged a career-high 94.9 MPH on it. He’s thrown a changeup 20.3 percent of the time and has only allowed one extra-base hit on it (a double). He’s thrown a curve 13.5 percent of the time and a slider 8.6 percent of the time. His slider has a 60.3 percent whiff rate, which seems good.
Still a quite injured lineup for the Dodgers. Tommy Edman and Teoscar Hernandez remain out of the lineup, with Hyeseong Kim starting at second again and Andy Pages sliding over to right. They’re hoping to have Edman and Teo back in the lineup on Wednesday and they could potentially be available off the bench tonight.
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Pages is in right because James Outman is back and hits ninth. Enrique Hernandez was played on the IL with a non-throwing arm injury.
Dave Roberts said Kiké Hernández had been quietly dealing with his elbow problem since an awkward slide in Cleveland in late May, but that it “reached a head” on Saturday
— Jack Harris (@ByJackHarris) July 7, 2025
He got an MRI and cortisone shot. Team hopes he’s back “shortly after the break,” per Roberts https://t.co/CjlRtzaom9
Yet another elbow injury for a Dodger pitcher. Outman returns with a .970 OPS in AAA and a sub-30 percent strikeout rate in the minors, which is really all he needs to do to be playable in center (the strikeout rate part, obviously if he was OPSing .970 he’d be a mainstay). Getting Outman back in the field and sliding Pages to right gives the Dodgers one of their strongest outfield defenses possible, if not their strongest.
The Dodgers made another roster move as well, adding Julian Fernandez to the bullpen. Justin Wrobleski was optioned and CJ Alexander was designated for assignment for the 40-man spot.
The Dodgers recalled OF James Outman, selected the contract of RHP Julian Fernández, optioned LHP Justin Wrobleski and placed IF/OF Kiké Hernández on the injured list with left elbow inflammation. In order to make room for Fernández on the 40-man roster, the Dodgers designated IF…
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) July 7, 2025
Fernandez threw 6 2/3 innings in the Majors for the Rockies in 2021, but hasn’t seen the Majors since. He’s bounced around between the Rockies, Blue Jays and Dodgers minors and will be back up. He’s posted a 4.08 ERA in 28 2/3 for OKC this season and has nearly as many strikeouts (32) as hits allowed (33). Fernandez is known for his velocity, averaging 99 MPH on his fastball in his Major League stint and throwing at least one at 102.4 MPH.
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Tyler Glasnow will officially return Wednesday morning in the finale in Milwaukee. Dustin May will be pushed back to Friday to start the series in San Francisco, with Emmet Sheehan throwing Saturday and Yamamoto going Sunday. If they stick to this, Yamamoto will be replaced on the All-Star roster.
Rotation for SF will be Dustin May-Emmet Sheehan-Yamamoto. That doesn’t leave a spot for Shohei Ohtani’s next start until after the ASG break — unless #Dodgers put him in as opener for one of those guys (Sheehan would be most likely)
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) July 7, 2025
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First pitch is scheduled for 4:40 PM PT and will be shown on SportsNet LA.
