Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers (63-45) found themselves in a relatively early deficit last night despite Tommy Edman‘s second inning home run, with the Reds (56-52) taking a 3-2 lead in the fourth inning. It was looking a little bleak before Michael Conforto, Freddie Freeman, and Will Smith ensured the Dodgers ended up on top, scoring two in the seventh, and one in the ninth. Shohei Ohtani will be on the mound as the Dodgers look for their first series sweep since the beginning of the month against the Chicago White Sox (39-69). The veteran right-hander, Nick Martinez, will be on the mound for Cincinnati, looking to prevent a sweep. The Reds are the only team in the majors yet to have been swept this season. The previous franchise record of 32 was broken just recently, as the Reds are now up to 34 consecutive series without being swept.
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| 4:10 PM | Cincinnati | |||
| SS | Betts | DH | Lux (L) | |
| DH | Ohtani (L) | 2B | McLain | |
| C | Smith | SS | De La Cruz (S) | |
| 1B | Freeman (L) | LF | Hays | |
| RF | T. Hernández | RF | Marte | |
| CF | Pages | C | Stephenson | |
| LF | Conforto (L) | 1B | Steer | |
| 2B | Rojas | CF | Benson (L) | |
| 3B | Freeland (S) | 3B | Espinal | |
| P | Ohtani (R) | P | Martinez (R) |
Mookie Betts reached three times last night via two singles and a walk, while Freddie Freeman added three hits of his own including the game-tying single. Promising stuff from two guys who have been struggling mightily. Will Smith continued his fantastic season with three hits including the go-ahead double in the top of the ninth inning. Conforto entered the game in the seventh inning and worked a six-pitch walk eventually scoring, and then a ten-pitch walk to leadoff the ninth inning, where he was replaced by James Outman who scored the winning run.
It’s funny to say based on how his season has gone thus far, but the Dodgers don’t win last night without Conforto. He is slashing .274/.348/.500 in July, good for a 137 wRC+ and an .848 OPS. Dating back to June 24, the slash line is .280/.349/.560, a .909 OPS and 152 wRC+. The timing is amusing with the trade deadline 24 hours away, but it seems like Conforto has finally found himself.
Alex Freeland makes his MLB debut tonight batting ninth and playing third base. Bruce wrote about Freeland’s call up and what you need to know about one of the Dodgers’ top prospects. Here’s just a short excerpt that really tells you what you need to know.
Freeland’s glove and plate discipline are his biggest strengths, but another one is simply his overall lack of weaknesses. He grades out at roughly average or better across all five tools.
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Here’s how Ohtani and Martinez have fared.
Ohtani is making his seventh start of the season tonight, with the goal of pitching four innings for the first time this year. It seems like this is roughly the plan, as he went two innings in his third and fourth starts, followed by three innings in each of the past two. His last time out came against the Twins, where he allowed one earned run on four hits and one walk with three strikeouts. He served up his first homer of the year, as well as a ton of hard contact that found gloves. It was his weakest performance of the year despite the results still being strong. Hopefully he bounces back from that a little bit before Emmet Sheehan enters for bulk-innings.
Martinez earned the win his last time out against the Rays, allowing two runs on four hits and two walks over five innings. He had a brutal outing against the Marlins four starts ago in which he allowed ten earned runs over five innings, but has bounced back very well. He’s earned the win in three consecutive outings, with a 3.52 ERA over 15.1 innings pitched. He had also won his two starts before that outing against Miami, so he’s won five of his last six with a huge stinker right in the middle. He throws six pitches with regularity, starting with a four-seamer and sinker in the low-90’s. He throws a cutter in the upper-80’s, followed by a changeup, slider, and a curveball, mixing and matching to change speeds.
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Blake Snell returning is fantastic news. We were in the dog days of summer for a bit there, but all of a sudden the rotation is looking how it was envisioned coming into the year.
I could see Roki Sasaki thriving out of the bullpen to close the year if he makes it back in time.
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Also, Dodgers are shifting Dustin May to the bullpen for the time being, Roberts said. May will be available for multi-inning relief outings starting Friday
— Jack Harris (@ByJackHarris) July 30, 2025
Emmet Sheehan is piggybacking today with Shohei Ohtani (who is slated for four innings)
Makes sense for the Dodgers, and we’ll see if Dustin May is still here 24 hours from now or if the Dodgers send him somewhere he has the opportunity to remain in a rotation.
In terms of further trade news, it appears nothing is imminent, but a right-handed reliever is inevitable.
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First pitch is at 4:10 PT on SNLA and MLB Network.
