Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
After four games at Coors Field, I expected a tough game to start the series against the Giants, as there’s usually a hangover effect. However, things started about as poorly as possible, as a combination of Yoshinobu Yamamoto having bad command and comical defense gave the Giants a big early inning. The Dodgers were then basically owned the rest of the way after blowing their one big chance in a 3-1 loss.
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Things started out about as messy as possible for Yoshinobu Yamamoto, putting the Dodgers in an unexpected early hole.
A hot shot to short was gloved by Hyeseong Kim, but he then threw wildly out of play for an infield single and an error. A single followed to corner the runners, Yamamoto issued an uncharacteristic walk to load things up with nobody out, and Rafael Devers poked a single just past Alex Freeland‘s glove for a single to make it 1-0 Giants.
Casey Schmitt then hit a flyball to medium-shallow left, but Teoscar Hernandez broke back before rushing in, which led to Alex Call coming over from center to make the catch. They ended up colliding, which cost them a chance to hold the runner, but at least nobody was seriously hurt. Jung-Hoo Lee followed with a single that Kyle Tucker didn’t seem to read well, and it was 3-0 Giants just like that.
Wasted NO time ? pic.twitter.com/99t7oUop7N
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) April 22, 2026
He did get the last two outs of the inning to stop the bleeding there, but yeah.
Bad.
The defense behind Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the first inning pic.twitter.com/99a9mAKxjx
— Blake Harris (@BlakeHHarris) April 22, 2026
Yamamoto then settled in with a clean 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. His streak ended with a lead-off walk in the 5th, but he retired the final three of that inning, then with two outs in the 6th, he gave up back-to-back singles that resulted in an out at the plate.
With Lee going, Ramos singles and Lee tries for home after Call lobs it into Freeland, but is still nabbed at the plate. pic.twitter.com/pdHoZ5iCMA
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) April 22, 2026
Yamamoto came back out in the 7th and struck out the side, so it was really just that 1st: 7 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 7 K, 101 Pitches.
Tanner Scott took over in the 8th and issued a walk, but otherwise looked good.
Tanner Scott GM GA GN on three middle fastballs. One middle-middle, one middle-up, one middle-down. https://t.co/MBoVRoWZIt pic.twitter.com/oD0atio39Z
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) April 22, 2026
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As mentioned, I expected the offense to struggle, but they really didn’t do much of anything against Landen Roupp.
After just a two-out walk in the 1st and a two-out single in the 2nd, he struck out the side in a dominant 3rd, but that wasn’t indicative of anything.
The Dodgers got a golden chance in the 4th, as Freddie Freeman drew a lead-off walk, Teoscar got ahead 3-1 before grounding out, and Max Muncy, Dalton Rushing, and Hyeseong Kim all drew consecutive walks to force a run in to cut the lead to 3-1 Giants.
Unfortunately, the rally ended there when Alex Call killed the rally by grounding into a double play on a middle-middle sinker.
Roupp rebounded with a clean 5th, but that 4th messed his pitch count so he was out at that point.
Against their pen, they got a one-out double in the 6th, a two-out walk and single in the 7th, a walk in the 8th, and finally did nothing in the 9th to end the game.
Worse than I expected, honestly.
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Tucker's bat asplode. pic.twitter.com/78ki28pAmS
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) April 22, 2026
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16-7
The series continues tomorrow with the same everything, including the time of 3:45 PM HT/6:45 PM PT/9:45 PM ET. It’ll be Shohei Ohtani on the bump looking to continue his pitching mastery against Tyler Mahle.
