Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers (76-51) held on for a 7-6 win over the Rockies last night, setting them up for a sweep opportunity tonight. Eric Lauer failed to record his typical quality start, but giving up four runs in five innings at Coors feels like enough quality. The offense continued to find its stride and put up seven runs off Rockies’ starter Ryan Feltner, but they only had two baserunners over the final four innings against the Colorado bullpen. The Dodger bullpen wasn’t quite as sharp, with Evan Phillips giving up three baserunners and a run before recording an out in the eighth and needing Tanner Scott to record the final out of the inning. Scott remained in for a four-out save and gave up a double and a single to make it a one-run game in the ninth, but escaped with the save. The Dodgers have now won six of their last nine games and have a chance for their second sweep in the last three series.
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| 5:40 P.M. | Denver | ||
| DH | Ohtani (L) | RF | McCarthy (L) |
| CF | Pages | DH | Moniak (L) |
| LF | T. Hernández | CF | Carrigg (S) |
| 1B | Freeman (L) | 1B | Rumfield (L) |
| SS | Betts | LF | Veen (L) |
| 2B | Rojas | 3B | Norby |
| RF | Tucker (L) | 2B | Amador (S) |
| 3B | K. Hernández | C | Sullivan (L) |
| C | Rortvedt (L) | SS | Tovar |
| P | Sasaki (R) | P | Freeland (L) |
Roki Sasaki makes his 22nd start of the season tonight and looks to continue his excellent post-ASG stretch. Sasaki finished the first half with a 5.33 ERA and gave up 22 runs in 23 innings over his final five starts before the break. He gave up at least three runs in each of those five starts and had two starts where he gave up six+ runs. In five starts since, Sasaki’s given up seven total earned runs in 30 innings. He’s posted pretty identical lines in his two August starts, going six innings with two runs and four hits allowed in each start. He did struggle a bit through those six innings last time out against the Brewers, as he only struck out two batters and matched his career-high with five walks allowed. The Dodgers ended up losing both of those games despite Sasaki’s efforts (due to Edwin Diaz‘s efforts, as he came in for a save in both games and blew it both times). This is Sasaki’s third time facing the Rockies this season. He started at Coors back in April and only went 4 2/3 innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and two walks with only two strikeouts. He was a bit more efficient against the Rockies in LA in his final start before the All-Star Break, giving up three runs on four hits and a walk over six innings. Kyle Karros took Sasaki deep in both of those games, but is on the concussion IL and can’t torment the Dodgers this series.
Kyle Freeland gets the ball for the Rockies looking to continue his own hot streak. Freeland has a 6.27 ERA in 120 2/3 innings over 22 starts this season, but has knocked that ERA down by over a run in August. He’s allowed one earned run in each of his three starts this month, which started with a complete game one-run effort against the Royals at Coors. He followed that up with a bit more of a rough start in St. Louis, giving up one earned run but two unearned and needing 101 pitches to get through 4 1/3 innings. Last time out, Freeland tossed eight innings of one-run ball in San Francisco. That’s three earned runs in 21 1/3 innings this month and averaging basically seven innings per start. He’ll be tested today as two of his worst starts of the season came against the Dodgers, both in LA. On May 26, Freeland allowed eight runs on nine hits in four innings and gave up homers to Mookie Betts, Enrique Hernandez and Andy Pages. He faced them in LA again on July 6 and gave up six runs on nine hits in five innings, with Shohei Ohtani taking him deep in the third. You’d think Freeland would be a victim of Coors, but he’s actually been better at home than on the road this season. He has a 5.49 ERA and .850 OPS against at home and a 6.96 ERA/.865 OPS against on the road (in part because both those Dodger starts came on the road).
Freeland has been elite in two regards this season. His 34.5 percent chase rate is the ninth-best among pitchers with 120+ innings pitched and his 5 percent walk rate is the third-best. Outside of that, it’s rough. His 18.3 percent strikeout rate is the 13th-lowest and his 42.7 percent hard-hit rate is the 14th-highest. Freeland throws six different pitch types and four of them come with a .300 batting average against. He leads with a four-seamer (24.1 percent) and mixes in a cutter (21.5 percent), knuckle-curve (21.3 percent), change (13.6 percent), sweeper (11 percent) and sinker (8.5 percent).
Miguel Rojas and Kiké both draw the start against the lefty Freeland. Ben Rortvedt starts behind the plate after replacing Hunter Feduccia last night, who left the game with an illness that popped up out of nowhere. The Rockies roll out an extremely lefty lineup, with only Connor Norby and Ezequiel Tovar batting right-handed.
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Brock Stewart is back, as Jonathan Hernandez was designated for assignment.
The Dodgers have activated RHP Brock Stewart from the injured list and designated RHP Jonathan Hernández for assignment.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 19, 2026
Kind of a surprising move as Stewart didn’t go out on a rehab assignment this time. He started his season on a rehab assignment and made his first Dodger appearance on May 6. He made two appearances before another injury took him out until late-June, where he made his first of 12 appearances before some shoulder issues sidelined him. Stewart was quite good in those 12 appearances, giving up four earned runs in 12 2/3 innings and putting up a zero in nine of those outings. Hernandez was excellent in this Major League stint, allowing two hits and one walk with seven strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings over four outings. All of those outings were low leverage outings in Dodger losses, but still much more promising out of him.
Tyler Glasnow is making what could be his final rehab outing tonight for OKC. Assuming it goes well, he should be back on their Atlanta/Detroit road trip next week.
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First pitch is scheduled for 5:40 PM PT and will be on SportsNet LA.
