Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers dropped another game against Milwaukee to open the second half with yet another sweep. They’ve been swept in three of the last four series and have lost 10 of their last 12 to see their division lead shrink from nine games to only 3.5. The offense actually came to life a bit as they did score 12 runs in the two games over the weekend, but lost both games by one run and did a lot of little things poorly. The defense bit Clayton Kershaw last night, with two errors contributing to a three-run fourth and another error putting runners on the corners in the fifth to end Kershaw’s night. It was a season sweep for the Brewers, and now the Dodgers turn their attention to another team in the midwest.
The 48-51 Twins come to town off a rough series in Colorado. They dropped two of three to the Rockies but avoided the sweep with a 7-1 win yesterday. Minnesota is three games under .500 this season, but 11 games under .500 away from Target Field and have lost their last five series away from home. The Dodgers also get to miss All-Star Joe Ryan in this series as he started the finale in Colorado.
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| 7:10 P.M. | Los Angeles | ||
| CF | Buxton | SS | Betts |
| 2B | Castro (S) | DH | Ohtani (L) |
| DH | Larnach (L) | C | Smith |
| C | Jeffers | 1B | Freeman (L) |
| 1B | Clemens (L) | RF | T. Hernández |
| SS | Correa | LF | Conforto (L) |
| 3B | Lewis | CF | Pages |
| RF | Wallner (L) | 2B | Kim (L) |
| LF | Bader | 3B | Edman (S) |
| P | Festa (R) | P | Ohtani (R) |
Shohei Ohtani makes his sixth start of the season with Dustin May expected to follow. In Ohtani’s first start he allowed two singles and a walk before recording his first out, which ended up being a sac fly. Since then, Ohtani’s allowed three hits and two walks in 8 2/3 shutout innings with 10 strikeouts. He completed three innings for the first time in his last start before the break, allowing a single and a walk with four strikeouts in San Francisco. Ohtani struck out the side in the first but got through three, which he’s expected to do again tonight. Dustin May started in San Francisco the day before Ohtani and really struggled, allowing seven runs on five hits and four walks in 4 2/3 innings. Two of those runs did come off Anthony Banda after May left the game with runners on the corners in the fifth, but it was another rough start in a stretch of really rough starts for May. He’d posted a 5.46 ERA over five starts before that one against some less-than stellar offenses (San Diego, San Francisco, Washington, Kansas City and the White Sox). May’s rotation spot is already pretty much gone, and with Blake Snell potentially one rehab start away from rejoining the rotation, this could be May’s role moving forward. The piggyback is coming at a nice time for the Dodgers, who are somehow already in bullpen usage hell only three (3) days after the All-Star Break.
David Festa makes his 10th appearance/ninth start for the Twins this season. His 5.25 ERA isn’t pretty, but 16 of the 28 runs he’s allowed this season came in two blowup starts. He allowed eight in 3 2/3 innings against the A’s in their minor league ass ballpark and allowed eight in 4 2/3 against the Brewers, who we’ve established is an impossible team to beat. In the three starts since that Brewer start, Festa’s allowed 10 hits and six runs in 17 innings with 16 strikeouts and only three walks. He was quite good against two very good teams (two runs and five hits allowed against Detroit and the Cubs), but the Marlins put up four runs in six innings off him.
Festa’s primarily a three-pitch pitcher, throwing a four seamer (31.7 percent, 94.2 MPH average) changeup (28.8 percent) and slider (27.2 percent). Either Savant has some new classification or he’s added a sinker this season, throwing it 12.2 percent of the time after not being recorded throwing one last season. His four seamer’s been rocked this season, with a .345 average and .569 slugging against it. His change and slider have both generated big whiff rates at 43.3 percent and 34.3 percent, respectively.
Freddie Freeman is in the lineup after leaving yesterday’s game following a hit by pitch. Am fully expecting him to get scratched like minutes after I schedule this post, but at least initially he’s in there hitting cleanup and starting at first. Mookie Betts leads off again with Ohtani sliding down to second.
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The Dodgers made a move to get some bullpen help. Lou Trivino was designated for assignment, with Edgardo Henriquez called up for the first time this season.
#Dodgers recalled right-handed pitcher Edgardo Henriquez and designated right-handed pitcher Lou Trivino for assignment.
— Kirsten Watson (@kirsten_watson) July 21, 2025
Trevino pitched in all three games against Milwaukee and took the loss yesterday. He relieved Alex Vesia in the sixth after a one-out double, allowed the game-tying run to score on a single, allowed another single and a walk before getting relieved by Will Klein, who allowed a two-run single. Trevino’s faced 30 batters in July and only struck out three, which seems less than ideal. Henriquez makes his return after a foot injury in Spring Training kept him on the IL until late June. He pitched in 18 games for OKC between his rehab assignment and activation and allowed 12 earned runs, but five of those came in one disaster outing. In his last 13 outings, Henriquez allowed four runs in 13 2/3 innings and struck out 20 with six walks.
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First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM PT and will be shown on SportsNet LA.
