Dodgers 8, Pirates 6: The series is secured, but Shohei and Wrobo exit with injuries

Chad Moriyama 06/11/2026 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

A very normal home run swing to the right-center gap.

The series against the Pirates had so far had a blowout win and blowpen loss, and tonight they closed the series with an offensive battle that was close late. Thankfully, the bats came through enough to build a lead and then get insurance, and the pen … well they didn’t blow the game at least. Tanner Scott looked great in a four-out save at least. 8-6 win.

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Pirates starter Mitch Keller began the game in trouble and mostly stayed in it throughout.

He managed to limit the damage in the 1st despite giving up a pair of walks and a single, as a double play sandwiched between helped him. Keller also got a clean 2nd, but then Shohei Ohtani did things the easy way with one-out in the 3rd with his 13th homer of the year.

Not sure how he got that out.

That seemed to kickstart the offense, as Andy Pages singled, Freddie Freeman got hit by a pitch, and Mookie Betts barely missed a three-run homer to left that was caught at the top of the wall by Bryan Reynolds (like he did to Shohei yesterday). Max Muncy followed by also getting hit, which loaded the bases, and Kyle Tucker got fortunate with a bloop single to plate a pair and make it 3-0 Dodgers. He also stole second but was left there, which would also become a theme.

The rallied again off Keller in the 4th with two outs, as Shohei, Pages, and Freddie all singled in a row, the latter of which plated a run.

Mookie followed with a walk that loaded the bases, and Keller uncorked a wild pitch to plate Pages to make it 5-0 Dodgers.

Another walk followed that to reload the bases, but that chance was also stranded and that was it for Keller.

For the Pirates pen, Yohan Ramirez took over in the 5th and gave up one-out and two-out walks, but again they weren’t able to tack on runs. This would become an issue immediately after.

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It seemed like more than enough for Justin Wrobleski, at least with the way he started.

The 1st saw just a one-out walk, and he followed that with a clean 2nd. Pitching with the lead in the 3rd, Wrobo allowed a walk and single to start, but then got a flyout and double play to wiggle out of that jam.

After the 4th saw just a two-out single, the 5th … well, disaster.

With one down, Rafael Flores Jr. hit his first career homer to cut the lead to 5-1, but no big deal with that.

Wrobo rebounded with the second out … and was unable to get the third. A two-out single was followed by a Brandon Lowe homer to make it 5-3 all of a sudden.

Things got worse when Bryan Reynolds comebacker hit Wrobo in the leg for a single when he got jumbled trying to cover the bag.

Wrobo ended up leaving the game with the trainer after that (more on that later).

He was cruising until he wasn’t: 4.2 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 1 K, 80 Pitches.

Of course, that four is there because Will Klein entered in relief and gave up back-to-back singles to plate a run and make it 5-4 Dodgers.

A walk followed that to put a pair on again, but mercifully Klein got a strikeout to stop the bleeding there. He came out for the 6th, getting two outs before giving up a single, and being relieved by Alex Vesia. He did his job by getting a strikeout and also providing energy.

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Meanwhile, Ramirez got a clean frame in the 6th and the offense had seemed to stall. However, Evan Sisk thankfully struggled, issuing a one-out walk to a pinch-hitting Alex Call and then Dalton Rushing hit a double to put a pair in scoring position. A pinch-hitting Miguel Rojas hit a grounder to the drawn-in infield, but Call did a great job of baserunning and got in under the throw home to bump the lead to 6-4.

Worryingly, Santiago Espinal hit for Shohei (more on that later as well), but he did single to load the bases before Sisk uncorked a wild pitch to plate another run and make it 7-4.

Sisk did get a big pop-out for the second out before hitting a batter to reload the bases, but Brandan Bidois entered to relieve him and got the final out of the inning.

They did get more insurance on Bidois in the 8th, though it was a bit weird as well. After getting the first out, he struck out Kyle Tucker but he reached on a wild pitch. That was followed by a Call single and a Rushing walk to load things up, which again saw Rojas do his job with a sac fly to make it 8-4.

That is where the rally ended in the 8th, and Dennis Santana got a quiet 9th to close the book there.

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With a bit more breathing room for the Dodgers pen, Jack Dreyer entered in the 7th and rebounded with a clean frame that included a pair of strikeouts.

Unfortunately, it was Edgardo Henriquez‘s turn to have a disaster in the 8th. He gave up a lead-off triple, then a hustle double, and then a bloop double for two runs to make it 8-6 Dodgers before an out was recorded.

Henriquez got a groundout that moved the runner, then got a huge strikeout to keep him there.

That led to Tanner Scott entering for a four-out save against the heart of their order, and he did just that. He got a flyout to end the 8th, then struck out the side in the 9th.

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Hopefully both Wrobo and Shohei are day-to-day precautionary removals, but one had a hamstring contusion from the comebacker and the other … I’m not sure how he got hurt but it was inflammation.

Before the game, this was funny at least.

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44-25, still quite good and what not.

Next they’ll be flying to Chicago for a three-game set with the young and fun White Sox starting at 1:40 PM HT/4:40 PM PT/7:40 PM ET. It’ll be Roki Sasaki looking to continue his excellent run since May up against Sean Burke.

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