Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers (42-24) got lit up by the Angels in the finale of their weekend series, losing 13-5 to prevent a series and season sweep for the Dodgers. Emmet Sheehan struggled, all the umpires struggled, and most of the bullpen struggled while the 8 and 9 hitters for the Angels went 8-for-8 with eight RBIs and a walk. It soured an otherwise solid series heading into a six-game road trip against a pair of surprising teams. They start with a trip to PNC to face the Pirates, who are somehow 34-32 this season. They were 34-29, but got swept by Atlanta over the weekend. The Pirates have been at or above .500 mostly the entire season (they started 2-3) and have had a top-10 offense by OPS (.734, sixth in baseball) and wRC+ (106, ninth in baseball). They have the seventh-best walk rate as an offense and the third-base team OBP, but also have the highest BABIP in baseball (.311). Maybe that’ll come down to earth a bit (12th highest hard-hit rate, ninth highest soft-hit rate). It’s surprising that the offense is carrying the pitching a bit, as they’re middle-of-the-pack in team ERA (4.06, 15th in baseball).
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| 3:40 P.M. | Pittsburgh | ||
| DH | Ohtani (L) | 3B | Gonzales |
| CF | Pages | 2B | Lowe (L) |
| 1B | Freeman (L) | LF | Reynolds (S) |
| SS | Betts | RF | O’Hearn (L) |
| 3B | Muncy (L) | DH | Ozuna |
| RF | Tucker (L) | CF | Cruz (L) |
| LF | Ward (L) | 1B | Wendzel |
| C | Rushing (L) | SS | Triolo |
| 2B | Freeland (S) | C | Davis |
| P | Lauer (L) | P | Skenes (R) |
Eric Lauer makes his third start for the Dodgers and so far so good. Lauer started his Dodger career allowing a run on four hits against the Rockies, and last time out he allowed two runs and five hits in 4 2/3 innings in Arizona. Lauer only allowed one run on a Corbin Carroll homer through the first four innings, but things fell apart a bit in the fifth. He allowed back-to-back singles to start the inning with runners on the corners, and Ketel Marte tied the game with a sac fly. He then balked Tommy Troy to second before striking out Carroll for the second out of the inning, but was pulled for Blake Treinen who issued a walk but got out the inning without further damage. Lauer hasn’t faced the Pirates since 2022, but faced them 10 times as a Padre/Brewer. He has a 2.61 ERA in 51 2/3 career innings against the Pirates and has a 2.88 ERA in five appearances at PNC.
Paul Skenes makes his 14th start of the season for the Pirates. It’s been a bit of a disappointing season for Skenes, whose expectations are so high that I can genuinely call a 2.83 ERA “disappointing”. Skenes had a disastrous Opening Day start against the Mets as he allowed five runs on four hits and failed to get out of the first inning. The World Baseball Classic broke him until it didn’t, as he allowed three runs and 10 hits over his next five starts. Skenes got his ERA back down below 2.00 by starting May with back-to-back eight-inning shutouts, but allowed nine runs in 10 innings over his next two. His last two starts have also been identically weird. He’s allowed one earned run in each of those two starts (5 1/3 against the Cubs and 4 2/3 against the Astros), but allowed two unearned in each game. The Pirates have somehow lost Skenes’ last four starts after winning six of his first nine. Skenes has faced the Dodgers four times in his career. In two starts in 2024, Skenes allowed seven earned runs in 11 innings. In two starts last season, the Dodgers failed to score off Skenes in 12 1/3 innings.
Will Smith remains out of the lineup after the off day, with Dalton Rushing catching again. Kyle Tucker drops down to sixth in the lineup and Ryan Ward gets another start in left.
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There’s a chance Smith ends up on the IL.
#Dodgers Dave Roberts said Will Smith hit a little bit today, and played catch but “still doesn’t feel right”. He added that he mostly feels his neck stiffness on the swing, and is still day to day at the moment, but a possible IL stint is on the table.
— Kirsten Watson (@kirsten_watson) June 9, 2026
An extremely classic Dodger move, playing shorthanded for at least 4-5 games instead of ILing someone. Roberts also said he’ll likely be out of the lineup tomorrow as well. They only have two catchers on the 40-man so bringing up someone like Chuckie Robinson or Eliezer Alfonzo from AAA would require a 40-man move.
First pitch is scheduled for 3:40 PM PT and will be on SportsNet LA
