Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers (59-32) failed to finish off a sweep against the Padres, but still took three of four to take a 14 game lead in the NL West headed into the final week of the first half. The Dodgers have won seven of their last 10 games including five wins in seven games against the Padres in that span, growing their lead from eight games when they went to San Diego last weekend to 14 now and pushing the Padres under .500 during that span. Every last place team in the AL is closer to first in their division than the Padres and Diamondbacks are in the NL West, which seems good. However, the Dodgers wrap up the first half with six more games against NL West opponents, starting with three with the Rockies (37-54). The Rockies have been pretty solid of late, with three series wins and one split in their last five series. They’ve won four of their last five games and scored 42 runs in the four wins, including taking two of three against the Giants over the weekend to move a game behind them to get out of the NL West basement. The Dodgers swept the Rockies in LA in late-May, but the two teams split a four-game set in Colorado in April.
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| 7:10 P.M. | Los Angeles | ||
| 2B | Castro (S) | DH | Ohtani (L) |
| 3B | Karros | CF | Pages |
| C | Goodman | 1B | Freeman (L) |
| 1B | Rumfield (L) | SS | Betts |
| CF | Carrigg (S) | RF | Tucker (L) |
| RF | Freeman | LF | T. Hernández |
| LF | McCarthy (L) | 3B | Muncy (L) |
| DH | Johnston (L) | 2B | Rojas |
| SS | Tovar | C | Rushing (L) |
| P | Freeland (L) | P | Lauer (L) |
Eric Lauer gets the ball for the seventh time as a Dodger. Lauer squeaked out a quality start last time out in Sacramento, allowing three runs over six innings in a 9-4 Dodger win. Lauer gave up nine hits in his six innings, but all the damage came in the second inning. He gave up a leadoff homer and then got BABIP’d a bit, giving up three straight one-out singles with exit velocities under 80 MPH. He gave up a third run on a groundout before getting out of the inning and got through six without allowing another run. Lauer’s delivered a quality start in three of his five starts and fell an out short of a fourth in Pittsburgh, and he threw six no-hit innings in a bulk role in his non-start. Lauer’s first start with the Dodgers came against the Rockies on May 27 and he allowed a run on four hits in six solid innings with four strikeouts and one walk. Hunter Goodman hit a leadoff homer in the second for the lone Rockie run.
Kyle Freeland starts for the Rockies opposite Lauer as he did on May 27. The Dodgers beat up on Freeland in that game, scoring eight runs on nine hits in four innings. He gave up three homers in the first three innings (Mookie Betts, Enrique Hernandez and Andy Pages) and then gave up four more runs in the fourth. Freeland got the leadoff batter in the fourth, but went single-double-HBP to load the bases with one out. He threw a wild pitch to score a run before giving up a two-run double to Pages. Pages stole third and scored on a sac fly for the fourth run of the inning. Things haven’t been all that much better for Freeland since that start, giving up 24 runs in 34 2/3 innings in six starts since. He has been quite good in two of his last three starts, both at Coors. On June 19, Freeland allowed two runs over 7 1/3 innings with four hits and a season-high eight strikeouts against the Pirates. Last time out, Freeland gave up two runs in five innings with seven strikeouts against Miami.
Freeland has been elite at two specific things this season. His 34.1 percent chase rate is the 15th-highest among pitchers with 70+ innings, just behind Jacob deGrom and ahead of guys like Paul Skenes, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Jacob Misiorowski. His 5.1 percent walk rate is also the seventh-best. That’s about it, as he’s been below average in basically every other metric. His 19.2 percent strikeout rate is in the 29th percentile, his 43.6 percent hard-hit rate is in the 18th percentile and his 10.6 percent barrel rate is in the 14th percentile. He’s given up a .318 batting average against which is the seventh-worst in baseball, and his .294 xBA is tied with teammate Michael Lorenzen for the 12th-worst. Freeland’s actually been worst away from Coors, with an 8.31 ERA and .922 OPS on the road and a .638 ERA/.920 OPS at home.
Tommy Edman is out of the lineup against a lefty again, with Miguel Rojas getting the start at second.
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Evan Phillips is officially back. Paul Gervase got optioned and Jake Eder was released for the 40-man spot.
Evan Phillips is back. Paul Gervase was optioned.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) July 6, 2026
Jake Eder was released to open a 40-man spot.
Phillips returns following a rotator cuff injury last May. He only made seven appearances last season and didn’t allow a run in 5 2/3 innings. Phillips made 12 outings during his rehab assignment and allowed two runs and nine hits over 10 innings with 13 strikeouts and five walks. Phillips faced six batters in his final two rehab appearances and struck out five of them. Gervase pitched in two of the Padre games and struggled on Thursday, allowing two walks and getting two outs in the ninth before being lifted for Tanner Scott, who gave up an RBI single to give Gervase an earned run. He also took down two innings in yesterday’s loss, giving up two hits and a walk but keeping the Padres off the scoreboard. Eder pitched in four games for the Dodgers in April/May and allowed a run in four innings, but has a 4.29 ERA in 21 innings in AAA.
That wasn’t the only 40-man roster move the Dodgers made. Chuckie Robinson was DFA’d, and Carlos Duran was added to the 40-man.
Duran remains in Triple A. #Dodgers https://t.co/rdvhtiroVh
— Katie Woo (@katiejwoo) July 6, 2026
Duran was a Dodger minor leaguer for six years before they traded him to the A’s last April for Esteury Ruiz. He had a really rough debut against the Angels, getting a popout before issuing two walks and a single to load the bases. Duran walked in a run before getting pulled, and Hogan Harris gave up a sac fly and an RBI single to give Duran an 81.00 ERA. He signed back with the Dodgers this offseason and has a 3.86 ERA in 35 innings for OKC, where he’ll remain after being added to the 40.
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Edwin Diaz is close to a rehab assignment.
Roberts clarified today that Díaz will have one more live this week at Dodger Stadium. Then he'll likely get some work in in Arizona before beginning a rehab assignment. https://t.co/5cQRkRUbZ8
— Sonja Chen (@SonjaMChen) July 6, 2026
He’ll throw another live BP this week and probably work out a bit in Arizona after (I assume due to the All-Star Break) before going out on rehab.
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First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM PT and will be on SportsNet LA.
