Blue Jays 5, Dodgers 4: Pen puts Dodgers behind twice, offense leaves 16 on base

Chad Moriyama 08/10/2025 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

This series against the Blue Jays started off well and it seemed like they were in prime position to sweep today, but it ended up being a frustrating affair after the Dodgers pen blew the lead again and then the bats missed huge chances twice at the end, falling 5-4 to the Blue Jays.

Hell, it was even hard to watch, literally.

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The started off ominously for Tyler Glasnow, who struggled with his control right off the bat. A nice play by Mookie Betts started the game, but a walk followed and then he gave up a double to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to start the scoring.

He worked around that to limit the damage, but it was 1-0 early.

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That was an especially bleak start since the Dodgers were facing nemesis Eric Lauer, who has long dominated the team even when he’s bad, but he’s actually good now, apparently.

Maybe that was the key to getting to him, as Shohei Ohtani started things by slugging his 41st dong of the year to tie things up.

After Mookie walked, a strikeout followed and Betts got thrown out trying to steal second. That cost them a run as Freddie Freeman hit his 14th homer of the year to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead.

A Teoscar Hernandez double and a Andy Pages walk followed in the inning, but they’d be stranded, which would eventually become a theme today.

That said, they did add on further in the 3rd, as Miguel Rojas started a rally with a double. With one out, the Blue Jays intentionally walked Ohtani, and Mookie followed by singling to load the bases. After Will Smith frustratingly popped out on a 3-0 pitch, Freddie drew a walk on a dubious call to force a run in and make it 3-0.

However that was all they got out of all that, as Lauer escaped that chance to break the game open.

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For a while it looked like Glasnow would immediately give runs back, as he started the 2nd with a walk, got a strikeout, but then gave up a bloop double and walked another batter to load the bases. Fortunately, he induced a tailor-made double play to Mookie for the escape.

He rebounded with a clean 3rd inning, and faced the minimum in the 4th after a one-out walk was erased by a smooth double play.

Glasnow then struck out a pair in a clean 5th, but in the 6th a lead-off single was plated by a two-out bloop single to cut the lead to 3-2.

Frustrating conclusion, but he did settle in well: 5.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 8 K, 86 Pitches.

Some nasty stuff.

Helping him keep that two on the board was Anthony Banda, who came in to end the 6th.

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Offensively, they couldn’t take advantage of the chances they got. They got just a one-out single in the 3rd and saw another erased by a double play in the 4th, but got a two-out single, steal, and walk in the 5th that also went for naught.

The 6th saw the Dodgers get another crack, as a one-out Ohtani single led to a two-out Ohtani steal, and Smith drew a walk. But for whatever reason, with Freddie at the plate, Ohtani tried to steal third and got caught comfortably. Dumb play. They then got just a one-out single in the 7th, so the pen had a task to do.

Well.

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Speaking of the Dodgers pen, it was Justin Wrobleski starting the 7th with two strikeouts before giving up a single, and Ben Casparius entered to get the last out of that frame.

Things were looking fine until then, but Blake Treinen entered and with one out he gave up back-to-back homers to Guerrero and Addison Barger to give the Blue Jays a 4-3 lead all of a sudden.

Brutal, and he’s been honestly bad since returning. Needs a low leverage run to get his shit together.

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That represented the game becoming a back-and-forth affair, as to start the 8th it was Alex Freeland drawing a walk, Alex Call sac bunting him over, and Ohtani getting another intentional pass. This time Mookie struck out, but back-to-back walks to Will and Freddie forced the tying run in at 4-4.

Next up was Michael Conforto, who couldn’t lean into a wild pitch at his knee, got ahead 3-0, took a strike, and then popped up to the catch on this pitch somehow. Horrific.

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Alex Vesia then entered in the 9th looking to keep things tied, but he gave up a homer on the first pitch he threw to Ernie Clement that gave the Blue Jays a 5-4 lead.

I dunno, man.

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Well, despite that demoralizing event, the Dodgers had another golden chance in the bottom of the frame, as Pages and Muncy walked to start the inning, Freeland laid down a sac bunt, and Call then walked to load the bases with just one out.

That brought up Ohtani, who got very fortunate on a check-swing call, but then struck out on a ball in the dirt on a 3-2 count. Mookie then came up and grounded out to end the game.

Brutal loss.

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NL WestRecordGB
Dodgers68-50–
Padres66-522.0

The Dodgers will now head to Anaheim to play the Angels, starting at 3:38 PM HT/6:38 PM PT/9:38 PM ET. It’ll be Yoshinobu Yamamoto against Jose Soriano.

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