Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Like everyone predicted, the Dodgers (43-24) dominated the Eric Lauer vs Paul Skenes matchup in the opener in Pittsburgh. It got off to a rocky start as Skenes started the game with a nine-pitch inning and Lauer allowed back-to-back homers in the first, but Lauer only allowed one more baserunner in his 5 2/3 innings while the Dodgers tied the game off Skenes. The Pirate bullpen came in to start the seventh which Dalton Rushing started with a single. They didn’t record an out until Rushing came up again and struck out. The Dodgers put up four singles, a double, a homer and two walks and scored runs on an errant Henry Davis backpick and a double play ball-turned error for a six-run inning before recording an out. They scored four more for a 10-run, seven-hit, two-error inning that turned a 2-2 game into a 12-2 Dodger lead (and Tanner Scott gave up a run to make the final score 12-3). Today, the Dodgers look for another series win and send their ace to the mound to do it.
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| 3:40 P.M. | Pittsburgh | ||
| DH | Ohtani (L) | 1B | Horwitz (L) |
| CF | Pages | 2B | Lowe (L) |
| 1B | Freeman (L) | LF | Reynolds (S) |
| SS | Betts | DH | O’Hearn (L) |
| 3B | Muncy (L) | 3B | Gonzales |
| RF | Tucker (L) | C | Rodríguez (S) |
| LF | Ward (L) | RF | Callihan (L) |
| C | Rushing (L) | CF | Mangum (S) |
| 2B | Freeland (S) | SS | Triolo |
| P | Ohtani (R) | P | Jones (R) |
Shohei Ohtani gets the ball looking to continue his unbelievable season on the mound. Ohtani is still short of qualifying (he’d temporarily qualify with seven innings pitched today), but comes into the start with a 0.74 ERA/2.41 FIP in 61 innings. Ohtani had been struggling with his command of late, but only issued one walk over six shutout innings in Arizona last Wednesday. Ohtani’s only allowed one earned run over his last four starts (and that run came in a game where he didn’t allow a hit) and has still only allowed more than one run in a game once in his 10 starts. He’s completed six innings in nine of those 10 starts and has only thrown more than 100 pitches once. He only needed 89 to get through six shutout in Arizona. This is Ohtani’s first time pitching in Pittsburgh, but he did face the Pirates once as an Angel in 2023 and it went poorly. The Pirates put up five runs and six hits in 6 1/3 innings off Ohtani and took him deep a career-high four times. Two of those homers were hit by Davis, but the other two were by Jiman Choi (no longer in the league) and Jack Suwinski (in the Dodger minor league system).
Jared Jones gets his third start in 2026 after missing all of 2025 due to elbow surgery. Jones showed glimpses of being special as a rookie in 2024 including throwing six shutout in a 1-0 win over the Dodgers, but ended the season with a 4.14 ERA in 121 2/3 innings. Jones struggled in his return from the IL on May 29, allowing five runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 against the Twins. He bounced back with a strong start last time out, allowing four hits in five shutout innings against the Astros.
Jones is a big velocity guy, averaging 97.3 MPH on the fastball back in 2024. It’s only been two starts, but he’s averaged 99 MPH on 50 fastballs so far this season. He’s allowed four hits on the fastball and three have been for extra bases including both homers he allowed against the Twins. The adrenaline was clearly high for Jones, as he threw nine fastballs in the first inning and all of them were over 100 MPH. He topped 100 seven times in his second start with most coming in the first as well, but in both starts he was down closer to 97-98 MPH deeper into the starts. He’s thrown his fastball 39.1 percent of the time this season after throwing it 49.2 percent of the time in 2024. He’s also thrown a slider (30.5 percent), change (17.2 percent) and curve (13.2 percent). In 2024 he was pretty much fastball/slider only and it’s only been two starts, but it he’s using his other pitches a bit more so far this season.
The Dodgers roll out the exact same lineup tonight, meaning Will Smith remains out of the lineup. O’Neil Cruz was scratched from the lineup yesterday and remains out of the lineup today with Jake Mangum starting in center.
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Rushing will catch tomorrow as well, and Smith is likely to hit the IL with Eliezer Alfonzo or Chuckie Robinson likely to get called up.
Will Smith likely to go on Il. #Dodgers debating whether to promote Eliezer Alfonzo or Chuckie Robinson from OKC. (Robinson caught 9 innings today)
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) June 10, 2026
Alfonzo and Robinson have basically trade off starts behind the plate for OKC of late with Robinson getting the start this morning. Whoever gets the call will likely start the opener against the White Sox on Friday. Robinson got in a game for the Dodgers last season and has a .803 OPS in 20 games for OKC this season. Alfonzo has yet to appear in the Majors and has a .781 OPS in 35 games in his first season at AAA, and I definitely didn’t almost write three sentences about the Eliézer Alfonzo that retired in like 2011.
Whatever move happens won’t be before the game, the Dodgers did open up a 40-man spot by releasing Tyler Fitzgerald.
The Dodgers say they released Tyler Fitzgerald, who was in OKC.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) June 10, 2026
After a couple rough years and DFA’s, the Dodgers signed Fitzgerald earlier this season and he’s been tearing it up for OKC. He posted a .293/.400/.598 slash line in 100 plate appearances with OKC, but was released to make room on the 40-man.
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First pitch is scheduled for 3:40 PM PT and will be on SportsNet LA.
