Dodgers 6, Rangers 3: Winning after having a 3-run lead in the 9th the easy way to secure the series

Chad Moriyama 04/11/2026 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

After a dramatic walk-off win to start the homestand yesterday against the Rangers, the Dodgers exploded early to jump out to a lead behind a three-run homer from Teoscar Hernandez, and then Emmet Sheehan and the bullpen ended up hanging on this time for a 6-3 victory.

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Dodgers starter Emmet Sheehan had another promising outing tonight, despite a relatively unflattering line. His second pitch of the game was smoked to dead center for a homer by Brandon Nimmo to give the Rangers an early lead.

After that, he rolled through the 5th inning, giving up just a ground-rule double (to Nimmo) that Teoscar Hernandez misread and a walk in all that time.

For a minute it looked like he might have the best start by a Dodger this year, but the 6th started with a single back up the box, and then Nimmo again victimized him with a homer, this one of the two-run variety.

Unfortunate ending, but he did in fact look pretty great: 6 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 6 K, 77 Pitches.

Unfortunate tarnishing of his line in the last inning, but Sheehan continued to take steps forward.

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— Chad Moriyama (@chadmoriyama.bsky.social) April 11, 2026 at 4:56 PM

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So that was a bit of a bummer of an ending to a great outing, but he did leave with the lead thanks to early offensive fireworks by his lineup against Rangers starter Jack Leiter.

None other than Shohei Ohtani tied the game to start things off via his fourth homer of the year.

With one down in the 1st, Will Smith singled, Freddie Freeman drew a walk, and then with two down Teoscar Hernandez stepped up to blast a three-run homer to left for an early four-spot.

After a quiet 2nd, they looked like they’d blow the game open in the 3rd. Smith started with a full-count walk, Freddie singled, and Max Muncy drew an 11-pitch walk to load things up with nobody out. But Teoscar grounded into a double play — it did plate a run — and Andy Pages flew out, so they only ended up getting one.

That total held up for a while, as it was still 5-3 Dodgers by the time Sheehan exited after six.

They did have chances via a one-out walk and stolen base in the 4th, a one-out walk plus steal and a two-out infield single in the 6th, and a walk that was advanced to second with two outs in the 7th, but nothing came of those shots.

Leiter only got two of those outs, coming in the 4th, and their pen got 3.1 scoreless inning. That streak ended in the 8th when Teoscar Hernandez started the inning with a double and it was Andy Pages yet again providing insurance with a single to make it 6-3.

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Much like last night, the Dodgers pen had a small lead to protect for three innings.

Like last night, they got things to the 9th, as Jack Dreyer bounced back by striking out the side on 13 pitches and Tanner Scott cruised through a nine-pitch inning. But unlike last night it was Blake Treinen instead of Edwin Diaz, and after getting the first out, he issued a walk and then a double-play ball was dropped by Muncy for an error. Treinen bounced back with a strikeout to put him an out away, and Alex Vesia entered and slammed the door for him.

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Andy Pages tried to recreate the 9th inning catch from Game 7 of the 2025 World Series with Teoscar Hernandez.

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The Dodgers have won another series and have improved to a league-best 11-3 on the season.

They’ll go for the sweep in an early game tomorrow at 10:10 AM HT/1:10 PM PT/4:10 PM ET. It’ll be Roki Sasaki looking to bounceback after a rough outing against Jacob deGrom.

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