Dodgers @ Pirates September 3, 2025: Sheehan starts as Ohtani’s start is pushed back

The Dodgers (78-60) dropped the first game against the Pirates (62-77) last night in a poor showing against yet another below .500 team. The offense was fine, putting up a total of seven runs while scoring in five of the nine innings, but the defense and pitching let them down. Each of Teoscar Hernández, Michael Conforto, and Andy Pages, were unable to make plays that would’ve changed the outcome of the game, with the latter having the most difficult of the plays. Clayton Kershaw gave up four runs in the first inning due in part to Hernández’s aforementioned error, but settled in well after that, ultimately leaving the game tied after five innings. The bullpen was then unable to stop the overpowering Pittsburgh offense, allowing three runs in the sixth, one in the seventh, and one in the eighth. If any single one of Edgardo Henriquez, Blake Treinen, Michael Kopech, Anthony Banda, or Kirby Yates did their job, the Dodgers would’ve likely came out of that game on top. Instead, they issued eight walks to the worst offense in baseball. Awesome! Emmet Sheehan will get the ball today instead of Shohei Ohtani who will have his start pushed back to this weekend due to being under the weather. The right-handed Braxton Ashcraft will make his sixth start of the year, looking to continue his recent success.

	3:40 P.M.		Pittsburgh
DH	Ohtani (L)	SS	Triolo
SS	Betts	1B	Horwitz (L)
C	Smith	RF	Reynolds (S)
1B	Freeman (L)	LF	Pham
RF	T. Hernández	DH	McCutchen
LF	Call	2B	Gonzales
CF	Pages	CF	Cruz (L)
2B	Freeland (S)	C	Bart
3B	K. Hernández	3B	Devanney
P	Sheehan (R)	P	Ashcraft (R)

Ohtani had three extra-base hits last night, with two doubles and a 120 MPH solo homer. Will Smith looked sharp with three hits on the night, while Teoscar and Mookie Betts each had two hits of their own. Michael Conforto was hitless and had two strikeouts, and will sit today in favor of Alex Call. Conforto gets nearly every start against right-handed pitching, but it’s hard to argue that he deserves playing time over Call at this point.

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Sheehan had his best outing of the year last time out against the Reds, going seven scoreless innings with ten strikeouts while allowing just three baserunners. He looked dominant and deserving of as much respect as anyone else in this star studded starting rotation. He now has a 3.56 ERA, 3.24 FIP, and a 1.13 WHIP with 54 strikeouts to 16 walks in 48 innings.

The 25 year-old Ashcraft allowed one run on four hits and one walk with five strikeouts over 5.2 innings against the Cardinals his last time out. This will be his fifth consecutive start in the rotation, after predominantly being used in long relief to start the year. He’s allowed just three earned runs over 19.0 innings in those four starts, with a 1.42 ERA, 1.66 FIP, and a 0.74 WHIP, with 20 strikeouts to just three walks. He throws hard, sitting in the low-90’s with his slider and the upper-90’s with his fastball, his two most frequented pitches. He’s had great results as a whole, with a 2.58 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP across his first 52.1 career innings.

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#Dodgers Dave Roberts shared that Shohei Ohtani is under the weather. His side work yesterday was cut short, and they felt the “tax of pitching in a game, wasn’t worth it”, but because he was okay to stay in as the DH yesterday, they felt comfortable with him as the DH today.

— Kirsten Watson (@kirsten_watson) September 3, 2025

Makes sense.

Hopefully they find a way to even up the series today in Pittsburgh. Just a little consistency across the board wouldn’t hurt.

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First pitch is at 3:40 PT on SNLA.