Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers (45-27) had a rough road trip, going 3-3 in Pittsburgh and Chicago ending with a 6-4 loss yesterday. Emmet Sheehan was phenomenal through five yesterday, but gave up two runs on three hits without recording an out in the sixth and gave way to Jack Dreyer, who continued to struggle keeping the ball in the park giving up two homers for a six-run inning. The offense came alive a bit late and had the tying run on first with one out in the ninth, but Freddie Freeman struck out to give the White Sox the series win.
Still, they return to LA with the second largest division lead in baseball (seven up on the Padres) and open a homestand against a pair of AL East opponents, starting with Tampa. The Rays (41-27) are once again exceeding expectations and had led the AL East (and AL in general) up until the weekend. They leapfrogged the Yankees in the standings on May 10 and saw their lead in the division get as high as 5.5 games on May 22, but are only 7-12 since with series losses against the Tigers, Marlins and Angels. They spent the weekend in Anaheim and dropped two of three, losing the first two games before avoiding a sweep with an 8-3 win yesterday. Tampa has the third-best ERA from their starters in baseball (3.39), but their 4.68 bullpen ERA is 22nd in baseball. The Dodgers face their top three starters in this series, so getting to that bullpen might be key. They’re a contact oriented offense, with the lowest strikeout rate in baseball (19 percent) but also the fewest home runs in baseball (57). They only have four batters with more than three homers this season (the Dodgers have nine), but Junior Caminero, Yandy Diaz and Jonathan Aranda combined have 38.
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| 7:10 P.M. | Los Angeles | ||
| DH | Díaz | DH | Ohtani (L) |
| 1B | Aranda (L) | CF | Pages |
| 3B | Caminero | 1B | Freeman (L) |
| RF | Vilade | SS | Betts |
| 2B | Williamson | 3B | Muncy (L) |
| RF | Slater | RF | Tucker (L) |
| CF | Mullins (L) | LF | Ward (L) |
| C | Fortes | C | Rushing (L) |
| SS | Walls (S) | 2B | Freeland (S) |
| P | Martinez (R) | P | Lauer (L) |
Eric Lauer makes his fourth Dodger start tonight. Lauer’s done pretty much as well as anyone could have expected from a May DFA pickup, allowing five runs and 12 hits in 16 1/3 innings over his three starts. After two solid starts, it looked like Lauer was due for a rough start in Pittsburgh as he gave up back-to-back homers in the first inning. Lauer settled in extremely well after that, only allowing one more baserunner over the next 4 2/3 innings to basically match Paul Skenes and keep the Dodgers in the game enough to score 10 runs in the seventh inning when Skenes left the game. He didn’t get the win because he was pulled with two outs in the sixth, but the Dodgers have won each of his three starts after the Blue Jays only won two of his eight pre-DFA starts. The Dodgers have also scored 33 runs in his three starts so like can’t give him all the credit, but he’s annoyingly pitching well enough to make it make at least a little sense that they haven’t called up River Ryan yet. Lauer pitched in Tampa in his penultimate Blue Jay start and allowed three runs and five hits in 4 1/3 innings. It wasn’t too dissimilar from his start in Pittsburgh as he allowed the first two Rays to reach base before giving up a three run homer in the first, but kept the Rays off the board after that. Home runs have continued to be Lauer’s big issue as he’s given up four solo homers in three starts as a Dodger accounting for four of the five runs he’s allowed.
Nick Martinez gets his 14th start as a Ray and has been their ace so far this season. Martinez has a 2.43 ERA in 77 2/3 innings over his 13 starts and had a 1.62 ERA through his first 11 before things fell apart against Detroit. Martinez allowed 12 runs in his first 11 games but allowed six against the Tigers in only four innings. He followed that up with a seven inning, three run start against Boston last time out where he dominated through seven with only one run allowed, but gave up a pair of singles and a two-run double to start the eighth to sour his line. Martinez spent four years pitching in Japan before returning stateside to join the Padres in 2022. He posted a 3.45 ERA in his two years with the Padres before signing with the Reds, where he posted a 3.83 ERA in two seasons. Most of his time with those two clubs came in long relief/bulk roles, as only 61 of his 192 appearances over those four years came as a starter. He’s given the Dodgers fits in his career, allowing only 10 runs in 36 innings over 13 outings/three starts. Four of those runs came last time he saw the Dodgers last August in LA.
Much like the Rays’ offense, Martinez is a very contact-focused pitcher. Among qualified pitchers, Martinez has the second lowest strikeout rate (13.8 percent) but also has the best walk rate (4.1 percent). He has the third-highest contact rate (83.5 percent), but has the second-best hard hit rate among pitchers with 200+ batted balls against (31.7 percent) and the second-best average exit velocity against (86.8 MPH). He leads with a sinker (31.4 percent) and also mixes in a changeup (28 percent), cutter (19.5 percent), four-seamer (10.5 percent), curve (7.5 percent) and slider (3.5 percent).
A normal lineup for the Dodgers today, with Dalton Rushing starting behind the plate and Ryan Ward in left.
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Lots of positive injury updates today regarding Tommy Edman, Teoscar Hernandez and Edwin Diaz.
Injury updates, per Dave Roberts:
— Sonja Chen (@SonjaMChen) June 15, 2026
-Tommy Edman will be activated from the IL tomorrow, seeing time at 2B, 3B and LF.
–Teoscar Hernández could start a rehab assignment this weekend if he continues to progress.
–Edwin Díaz will throw a bullpen session this week.
Edman will be activated tomorrow but won’t be back in the lineup until the noon finale on Wednesday. He’s expected to play 3/4 times a week until he’s built up and should play some second, third and left. Teo is progressing well and could begin a rehab assignment this weekend, and Diaz should throw a bullpen at some point this week.
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The first All-Star voting results came in today. As of now, the Dodgers would have four starters in Freeman, Shohei Ohtani, Max Muncy and Andy Pages.
Back to Dodgers World after some time off:
— Katie Woo (@katiejwoo) June 15, 2026
Four Dodgers (Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy, Andy Pages) lead the first update of MLB’s All-Star Game voting. Here’s the full list of the NL leaders. Voting period for phase 1 concludes June 25. pic.twitter.com/3p1tQJ45JA
Will Smith and Mookie Betts currently rank second at their respective positions and Hyeseong Kim is currently fourth place among second basemen. Teo is in fifth and Kyle Tucker ranks 10th in the outfield voting.
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First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM PT and will be on ESPN.
