Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers (56-39) dropped their seventh consecutive game last night in the series opener against the San Francisco Giants (52-43) by a score of 8-7. Chad mentioned it in his recap, but Dustin May and Anthony Banda dug too deep a hole for the offense to climb out of. They trailed 8-2 after the fifth inning, but managed to put up five runs across the sixth and seventh innings to make it close. The Giants had to use some high-leverage arms, and the seven runs scored were the Dodgers most since their sweep in Colorado two weeks ago. During a losing streak like this, you have to take the moral victories where you can. Shohei Ohtani will be on the mound today making his fifth start of the year. Dave Roberts said it’ll be between 2-3 innings, which would be nice progress to see as we head into the break. Emmet Sheehan is expected to pitch after Ohtani, making his third appearance of the year. The right-handed Landen Roupp takes the ball for the Giants, looking to bring them within three games of the Dodgers.
Yesterday against some very good pitchers, Shohei Ohtani hit one into the cove, while Mookie Betts added two hits in addition to a hard-hit lineout. Will Smith added two hits as usual, while both Teoscar Hernández (double) and Michael Conforto (homer) added extra-base hits. The star of the show was Hyeseong Kim, reaching second base in three of his four plate appearances. He singled twice and proceeded to steal second base both times (against one of the best defensive catchers in baseball), and skipped that process once with a double to left field. Dalton Rushing gets the start today as Smith gets his last rest day of the first half. Keep it up and they’ll break out of this mess.
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Here’s how Roupp and Ohtani have fared thus far.
Roupp has been very sharp as of late as he looks to send the Dodgers toward their eighth consecutive loss. Over his past four outings, he’s racked up two wins, allowing just three earned runs across 20.1 innings pitched. The run prevention has been great, but he’s still allowed 19 hits and 11 walks over that stretch. The walks have been an issue all year for him, and if anything it’s been more of an issue over this stretch. The reason we use this four start stretch, is that he faced the Dodgers just prior to that, where he allowed six earned runs in 1.2 innings on four hits and five walks. When the Dodger offense is humming, they destroy these iffy command, walk prone pitchers. Last time out he allowed just one run on four hits and two walks over five innings against the Phillies. It was his third consecutive game with four or fewer strikeouts.
Ohtani has had a good start to his year on the mound, with his third consecutive scoreless outing his last time out. He allowed just one hit against the Astros over two innings, notching three strikeouts, a season high. It’s been a promising start for Ohtani as he continues progressing and stretching out.
Sheehan had a solid season debut back on June 18, allowing one earned run on three hits and no walks against the Padres, racking up six strikeouts. He was then sent down to Triple-A to continue ramping up, and returned without missing a beat on July 6. He went five innings against the Astros, allowing just one run on five hits against a good offense that was in form. Thus far he’s allowed two earned runs in nine innings on eight hits and one walk with ten strikeouts. Hopefully he also continues the solid beginning of his 2025 season today against the Giants.
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Josue De Paula and Zyhir Hope are both starting outfielders in the All-Star Futures Game this afternoon. Good recognition for the Dodgers’ top two prospects.
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First pitch is at 1:05 PT on SNLA.
