Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers finally completed a sweep over the weekend, as they swept the Padres to turn a one game deficit in the West to a two game lead. The Dodger starting pitching was excellent in the series with Clayton Kershaw, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow combining for 17 innings and only three runs allowed. The offense did enough and the bullpen held on enough for a pair of one-run wins and a comfortable 6-0 win. It was a big series for the psyche of fans that thought the season was over after the Angels sweep, and the two teams meet again this weekend with a chance for the Dodgers to really put some distance in the division.
Before that, though, the ultimate trap series. The Dodgers head to Colorado for a four-game set with the Rockies, who are in the midst of their hottest stretch this season. They’ve won three straight games and five of their last six with back-to-back series wins for only the second time this season. They took two of three in St. Louis before welcoming Arizona to Coors, where they won three of four. They’re still looking for their first win against the Dodgers this season after getting swept in LA in Mid-April and in Colorado in late-June.
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| 5:40 PM | Denver | |||
| DH | Ohtani (L) | DH | Freeman | |
| SS | Betts | RF | Moniak (L) | |
| RF | T. Hernández | C | Goodman | |
| 1B | Freeman (L) | LF | Beck | |
| CF | Pages | SS | Tovar | |
| LF | Call | 1B | Bernabel | |
| 2B | Rojas | 3B | Karros | |
| 3B | Kennedy | CF | Doyle | |
| C | Rushing (L) | 2B | Ritter | |
| P | Yamamoto (R) | P | Freeland (L) |
Yoshinobu Yamamoto looks to bounce back from a rough start in Anaheim. Zach Neto took Yamamoto’s first pitch of the game deep, and Yama issued two walks and an RBI single before getting out of the first inning. He settled down a bit with two walks allowed over the next three innings, but the wheels fell off in the fifth. He allowed two singles to start the inning and then hit a batter to load the bases with no outs. He then allowed two more RBI singles and a run-scoring groundout before a walk to Luis Rengifo ended his night. Alexis Diaz came in for the final out to close Yamamoto’s line at 4 2/3 innings and a career-high six earned runs. Yamamoto’s thrown 126 1/3 innings this season and has already walked twice as many batters (44) as he did last season (22) in 90 innings. Yamamoto did shove earlier this season at Coors in a rain-shortened start. He allowed one hit over five shutout innings before it started dumping rain and the umps decided to keep the game going long enough for a Max Muncy popup to get lost in the weather for the first run of the game. Things really escalated after that delay and the Dodgers ended up winning 8-1.
The Dodgers face off with Denver native Kyle Freeland today. He’s had a pretty typical Coors season, with rough numbers overall (5.18 ERA) but some decent numbers on the road (4.24 ERA). He’s coming off one of his best starts of the season in St. Louis, throwing 7 1/3 shutout in a 3-0 Rockies win. He recorded one more out in that game than he did in his previous two starts combined, as he allowed eight runs in 7 2/3 innings against the Blue Jays and Guardians. Freeland is a pretty less-than-ideal starter for Coors with a 15.6 percent strikeout rate this season, the seventh-lowest among pitchers over 110 innings. It’s down from his 17.3 percent strikeout rate last season, which is technically better but was still the 10th-lowest. He does balance that with a 5.8 percent walk rate this season, which is the 18th-best in baseball. Freeland gives up a lot of contact, which is a bad combo with Coors. His BABIP at Coors is .390 and his hard-hit rate at Coors is 47.8 percent, both the highest numbers for any pitcher at their home ballpark.
Freeland’s fastballs have gotten rocked this season. He’s thrown a four-seamer (30.8 percent), cutter (15.6 percent) and sinker (8.4 percent) and they’ve combined for a .376 average (.371 xBA) and a .612 slug (.648 xSLG). In contrast, his breaking stuff has been pretty great. He’s thrown a knuckle curve 24.8 percent and a sweeper 13.7 percent of the time. Combined, he’s allowed a .200 average against (.210 xBA) and a .263 slug (.297 xSLG). Despite throwing a breaking pitch 38.5 percent of the time, 61 of his 80 strikeouts have come off one.
This is definitely a lineup. Dalton Rushing gets the start behind the plate after Will Smith caught all three Padre games over the weekend. With a lefty on the hill, Alex Call starts in place of Michael Conforto and Buddy Kennedy gets his second straight start with Alex Freeland sitting. The Dodgers get to see Kyle Karros at third for the Rockies today
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Shohei Ohtani starts Wednesday and could be out of the lineup Thursday.
Shohei Ohtani’s next start on the mound will be Wednesday here at Coors, per Dave Roberts. Plan is for five innings. TBD if he will be in the lineup for Thursday’s day game.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) August 18, 2025
They were hoping Ohtani’s last start would be five innings, but Ohtani struggled against the Angels and got pulled after 4 1/3. Ohtani’s DH’d all but two games for the Dodgers this season, but with a day game after a start day they might give him Thursday off before the series in San Diego.
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First pitch is scheduled for 5:40 PM PT and will be on SportsNet LA.
