Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers (21-13) snapped their season-long four-game losing streak, avoiding a sweep in St. Louis behind Justin Wrobleski‘s six shutout innings and just enough offense for a 4-1 win. Wrobleski continues to find success despite an inability to miss bats and the Dodgers came a Tanner Scott inning away from winning the game without a pitcher recording a strikeout. The offense still managed to leave nine runners on base, but put up four runs after scoring four total in the two previous games. Now the Dodgers head to Houston to take on an Astros squad that’s had a rough start to the season. Houston’s 14-21, a game ahead of the last-place Angels in the West and their .400 winning percentage is the fifth-worst in baseball. They’ve been better at home, with an 8-8 record in Houston and a 6-13 record on the road despite winning two of three in Boston over the weekend. Houston’s offense hasn’t been the problem, with the fourth-best team wRC+ (119) and third-best team OPS (.788). They’re led by reigning AL Player of the Month Yordan Alvarez, who’s slashing .326/.430/.667 with 12 homers and more walks (22) than strikeouts (18). However, they’ve been the worst pitching team in baseball by far. Their 5.75 team ERA is more than half a run worse than the second-worst (Arizona, 5.16) and their 5.20 team FIP is also the worst in baseball. They’re pretty middle-of-the-road in strikeouts (22.7 percent, tied for 13th in baseball) but their 13.5 percent walk rate is the highest in baseball and would be the highest team walk rate since at least 1990.
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| 5:10 P.M. | Houston | ||
| DH | Ohtani (L) | SS | Correa |
| 1B | Freeman (L) | DH | Alvarez (L) |
| C | Smith | 3B | Paredes |
| LF | T. Hernández | 1B | Walker |
| RF | Tucker (L) | 2B | Altuve |
| 3B | Muncy (L) | CF | Matthews |
| CF | Pages | RF | Smith |
| SS | Kim (L) | LF | Cole (L) |
| 2B | Freeland (S) | C | Diaz |
| P | Yamamoto (R) | P | Okert (L) |
Yoshinobu Yamamoto gets the ball looking to bounce back from his worst start of the season against the Marlins. Yamamoto allowed three earned runs (and one unearned) over five innings and walked a season-high four batters. It was his second consecutive start allowing three earned runs after allowing six total runs in four starts before this rough patch. Yamamoto battled through four innings with only the one unearned run allowed, but issued two walks and gave up a three-run homer to Liam Hicks in the fifth. The offense got Yamamoto off the hook, putting up three runs in the ninth for a 5-4 Dodger walkoff win. It was Yamamoto’s first time this season not getting through six innings and his first time doing so in his last 12 regular season starts. This is Yamamoto’s first time facing the Astros, but if you needed proof he was Lisan al-Gaib Christian Walker is 0-for-6 with three strikeouts in his career against Yama.
The Astros are rolling with a bullpen game today with Steven Okert getting his first start of the season. Okert’s thrown 15 innings over 17 relief appearances this season and has allowed seven runs and 12 hits with 10 strikeouts and six walks. Okert pitched the seventh inning of the Astros’ win yesterday in Boston, needing 12 pitches to throw a scoreless inning with a strikeout and a double allowed. Okert has dominated lefties this season with a .445 OPS allowed, but righties are OPSing .968 off him. They haven’t announced who the bulk boy will be if there is one, but rookie Ryan Weiss last pitched last Tuesday and has thrown multiple innings in seven of his eight appearances this season. Weiss has made two starts, but hasn’t reached four innings in a game yet. He allowed one run in six innings over his first three outings, but has allowed two or more in each of his last five and is still trying to recover from his fourth career game. Weiss came on in the fifth inning at Coors Field with a three-run lead and two runners on. He allowed both runs to score and allowed six more runs in the inning.
The Dodgers must also think Houston will be using a righty in bulk, as the back half of the lineup is the norm against righties. Hyeseong Kim and Alex Freeland start up the middle, but the Dodgers do keep Teoscar Hernandez and Kyle Tucker flipped in the order.
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Lots of injury updates. Brock Stewart is with the team in Houston.
Brock Stewart is here in Houston, and Dave Roberts said the hope is to activate him “some point soon,” potentially this series.
— Maddie Lee (@maddie_m_lee) May 4, 2026
Stewart faced three batters for OKC yesterday in what is almost definitely his final rehab start. He has a locker and won’t be activated today, but is on track to be back in the next couple days.
Also some updates on Enrique Hernandez, Mookie Betts and Tommy Edman.
Hernandez could start a rehab assignment as soon as tomorrow as he works his way back from offseason elbow surgery. Betts could start a rehab assignment if his BP goes well on Thursday, and Edman seems to be the farthest away from returning. The roster crunch will be interesting if/when they all come back.
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Shohei Ohtani won NL Pitcher of the Month.
José Soriano: 42.2 IP, 49 Ks, 0.84 ERA
— MLB (@MLB) May 4, 2026
Shohei Ohtani: 30 IP, 34 Ks, 0.60 ERA
Your AL and NL Pitchers of the Month for March/April! pic.twitter.com/tNExGInexk
All hail the Angels pitching dev? It’s Ohtani’s first Pitcher of the Month award. Ohtani also notably took batting practice on the field pregame, as he doesn’t have a hit since last Monday. Ohtani did have a day off at the plate last Tuesday when he pitched, but will be in the lineup as he takes the mound tomorrow.
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First pitch is scheduled for 5:10 PM PT and will be on SportsNet LA.
