Noah Cameron pitched a one-hitter, Michael Massey and Bobby Witt Jr. hit home runs, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Angels 3-0 on Sunday.
Cameron (7-8) struck out eight and walked one, throwing 115 pitches in nine innings. He gave up his only hit in the seventh, when Angels first baseman Vaughn Grissom singled high over the head of Witt.
Cameron retired his first 15 batters before issuing a leadoff walk to Oswald Peraza in the sixth. Peraza advanced on Travis d’Arnaud’s groundout before Josh Lowe struck out swinging and Zach Neto bounced to second.
He struck out Mike Trout leading off the seventh before Grissom’s single.
Massey hit a solo home run in the fourth inning for the Royals (51-74), followed by Witt’s home run in the fifth to make it 2-0. Carter Jensen hit an RBI single in the seventh.
Ryan Johnson (2-7) pitched 5⅓ innings for the Angels (49-76), giving up five hits. He struck out four, walked two and finished with two earned runs.
Up next for the Angels: Visit the Houston Astros for a three-game series on Tuesday. RHP George Klassen (1-1, 5.52) starts for the Angels. RHP Cristian Javier (1-3, 6.68) starts for the Astros.
The Dodgers needed a pivotal win Sunday afternoon against the Milwaukee Brewers. And Tarik Skubal did his part, giving up just one earned run on seven hits over six innings.
“Seemed like they had a good approach,” Skubal, who threw a season-high 109 pitches. “My job doesn’t change. I got to continue to make pitches and continue to get ahead and throw strikes, and I felt like I did that.”
But it wasn’t enough.
Milwaukee’s Logan Henderson quashed the Dodgers’ offense, giving up just three hits and one run over seven innings, to give the Brewers a 6-2 win in front of an announced crowd of 45,828.
The Dodgers (74-51) lost the four-game series 3-1 and also dropped the season series against the Brewers 4-3. The Dodgers trail Milwaukee (77-48) by three games for the best record in baseball.
“I really wanted to win this game because it could matter,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “But we didn’t, so now we got to move forward. I hope it doesn’t come back to bite us.”
Panic hasn’t — and presumably won’t — set into the Dodgers’ clubhouse. The two-time defending champions, however, are well aware they have lost 11 of their past 16 games.
“This has been cumulative,” Roberts said. “It’s been a long time since we’ve been consistent offensively. … I just don’t see the consistent plan of attack, one through nine. The results are hard, hitting’s hard, but I do think that fighting and winning pitches, spoiling pitches — that’s care, hunger. And that’s a reason why [when] you look at four and a half months of the season, the Brewers have outscored us. … A team that’s young and hungry. It’s certainly not talent.
“We just haven’t played clean baseball for quite some time, and that speaks to the defense and not converting an out … it’s just not winning baseball. Our pedigree [and] what we typically do is control the zone, grind it, grind at-bats [and] create stress. We’re not doing that.”
Milwaukee’s Jake Bauers beats a tag attempt by Dodgers catcher Ben Rortvedt to score in the seventh inning Sunday.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
The Brewers struck first with two outs in the second inning after Luis Lara grounded into a bases-loaded fielder’s choice; Tommy Edman dropped an awkward flip to second base from Mookie Betts, resulting in an error and a 1-0 Milwaukee lead.
Max Muncy got to Henderson in the fourth by hitting a tying home run 370 feet to right field. In the next inning, Milwaukee’s Jake Bauers hit a go-ahead single to right off Skubal, scoring Jackson Chourio from second after his double.
“I just got to be better in those moments,” Skubal said. “You know, the slider down and in to Lara’s got to be probably a little bit more down and in, and the changeup to Bauers has got to be a more quality pitch. … So as much as it’s in the kind of grind of at-bats, they also put some swings on some balls. But I need to execute some pitches and some two-strike counts a little better as well.”
The Brewers added two insurance runs in the seventh, as Bauers and Andrew Vaughn collected a pair of RBI knocks against left-handed reliever Alex Vesia. They got two more in the ninth after a second bases-loaded error by Edman came when he failed to field a choppy ground ball from David Hamilton, allowing Chourio and Lara to score.
“We have a lot of guys with reputations that can really pick the ball,” Dodgers catcher Ben Rortvedt said of the defensive woes. “I don’t think we’re really worried about [it]. All these things are going to help us in the long run.”
Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts walks back to the dugout after striking out in the seventh inning.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
The Dodgers had a chance to crawl closer with one out in the eighth, with Teoscar Hernández on third and Hunter Feduccia on first. But Shohei Ohtani grounded into a double play against Brewers reliever Aaron Ashby.
Andy Pages hit a solo home run in the ninth, but it came too late to matter.
“It can’t happen all at once,” Roberts said of a potential turnaround. “It just kind of starts building, collectively. And once we do that, then you get the big hit, things like that. But it’s a process of: each pitch, pass the baton, valuing every single pitch. And mentally, it’s not easy, but we can do it. We’ve done it many times over before.”
The results just haven’t been there for the Dodgers.
As they head to Colorado for a three-game series against the last-place Rockies, the Dodgers aren’t expecting any breaks.
“Honestly, I think every team’s hungry because they’re chasing us,” Roberts said. “They’re trying to make a name for themselves or trying to play spoiler, whatever it is. But every team we play is going to bring their best. The guys we are going to play the next three games, they’re gonna bring their best, I promise you that.”
If there is a silver lining, it’s that Skubal seems to be acclimating just fine in L.A. — even if the two-time defending AL Cy Young winner hasn’t had his best game since joining the Dodgers.
“I just got to be more consistent,” Skubal said of his first three starts with the Dodgers. “Continue to get quality contact on the ground, and sometimes you need a little bit of luck … But the stuff on my hand is as good as it’s ever been. And honestly, my execution today was pretty good too.
“There’s always room for improvement … but [in] the same breath, you can’t beat yourself up too much. I’m not going to be perfect out there. But yeah, I need to be more efficient. That’s the standard that I hold myself to: pitching deeper into ballgames and giving our team a chance to win every time out.”
Injury updates
The Dodgers placed left-handed starter Justin Wrobleski on the 15-day injured list with left forearm inflammation and recalled right-handed reliever Kyle Hurt from triple-A Oklahoma City. Wrobleski, who has pitched a career-high 126⅓ innings this season, surrendered four runs and four hits in a loss against the Brewers on Saturday.
“We just felt collectively that Justin was the right person [to] back off the fatigue of the arm,” Roberts said. “It’s not something that he’s ever going to make an excuse for. But I do think that it’s smart for us, as an organization, to take that load off a little bit from him.”
Wrobleski has struggled recently, giving up 11 home runs over his past four starts.
Stewart, who was placed on the 15-day IL with right shoulder discomfort on July 31, said he’ll join the Dodgers on their upcoming road trip to Colorado and is hopeful he’ll be activated soon.
The radio broadcasters reminded listeners of the final score, invited them to tune in again the next day, and signed off. The Dodgers had lost Saturday, so the sounds of “California Stars” wafted through Dodger Stadium.
“Well,” Charley Steiner said to his colleagues in the broadcast booth, “they’re still playing this song.”
The little things can be the ones we remember the most. On Saturday, for the first time in three years, Steiner called all nine innings of a Dodgers game.
In 2024, he beat cancer into remission. The first sign was back pain. He later suffered three back fractures, and to this day the pain is still there.
“It’s gone from intolerable to tolerable,” Steiner said.
He left Dodger Stadium in a wheelchair Saturday. He can walk, but the trek from the broadcast booth to the parking lot is too much, at least for now.
Yet he was in the booth, and on the air for nine innings, so Saturday was a very good day indeed.
Steiner returned for opening day in 2025, but he wore down and left midway through the game. He has called a few games this season, for a few innings each time, building up his workload as if he were a pitcher in spring training.
On Thursday, after Steiner called six innings, he said he would like to try seven the next time. Duane McDonald, the Dodgers’ radio producer, encouraged him to try the full nine.
And so Steiner did, his voice sounding raspy and rusty in the early innings but getting stronger with each successive inning.
He called the statistics put up by Milwaukee Brewers prodigy Jacob Misiorowski “Koufaxian numbers.” He translated an infield single with an exit velocity of 37 mph into everyday language: “That’s driving in the school zone.”
And, on an afternoon Dodgers starter Justin Wrobleski gave up two home runs — that’s 11 homers surrendered in his last 19⅔ innings — Steiner did not miss a beat when reading an advertisement: “Toyota dealers: they make it easy. Wrobleski makes it hard.”
The Dodgers have consistently and graciously told Steiner to take all the time he needed to get better, but recovery is slow, uneven and ongoing.
“Who would have ever thought that sitting could be painful?” Steiner said.
“I get home after a game, and I’m sitting with three ice packs on my back. It’s like I’ve completed playing.”
In the broadcast booth, he sometimes alternates between standing and sitting, or puts his feet up on a table, anything to avoid sitting for hours on end.
The happiest person next to Steiner on Saturday was the one who has been next to Steiner for two decades in the booth: Rick Monday, who checked on Steiner almost every day the past three years and who teased him unmercifully on Saturday, at times using words best left out of a family newspaper.
“You can’t invent chemistry,” Steiner said.
You also can’t invent what is now a lifelong bond.
“I had fun watching him, because I know he has gone through hell,” Monday said. “His world shrunk. We’re used to 50,000 people and you saw, what, one or two a day?”
Steiner nodded.
“Housebound,” Monday said.
“The last three years have been P.T. [physical therapy],” Steiner said. “Every day. Social life? Scratch that.
“If I want to go out to eat, it’s not necessarily where, but what’s the seating like? I can’t sit in a wooden chair.”
It’s too uncomfortable, he said, without cushion or support for his back.
Steiner is 77. He does not have to endure discomfort in the booth. He does not have to be here.
Or, perhaps, he does.
“It’s just nice being back at the park,” he said.
“It’s home.”
He is still building back his strength, no pun intended. His next goal: call a game on consecutive days, just as a relief pitcher has to prove he can pitch on consecutive days.
“But there ain’t going to be no Timmy Trumpet for me,” Steiner said.
That second consecutive day won’t be Sunday. From his home, he’ll do a segment with Monday for the pregame show.
And when might he be back in the broadcast booth on a regular basis? He had a twinkle in his eye, and seven of the most famous words in Dodgers broadcasting lore at the ready.
Reid Detmers pitched eight scoreless innings, Nolan Schanuel had an RBI single in the eighth and the Angels outlasted the Kansas City Royals 1-0 on Saturday night.
Detmers (4-8) gave up two hits, no walks and struck out 11 for his first win this season at Angel Stadium, breaking an 0-5 spell and a streak of 12 games resulting in a loss or no-decision. Ben Joyce worked a hitless ninth for his second save, as the Angels (49-75) won for the fourth time in five games.
In the eighth inning, Jose Siri came on as pinch-runner after Wade Meckler walked. Siri stole second, and Schanuel brought him home on the go-ahead RBI single. Schanuel had three of the Angels’ six hits, finishing three for three.
Nate Pearson (2-1) gave up the winning run for Kansas City (50-74). Randy Dobnak worked 5⅔ scoreless innings during his start, fanning six and giving up four hits.
Kansas City’s Jac Caglianone extended his hitting streak to 13 games.
The second pitch Edwin Díaz threw Thursday night sailed above the strike zone, at about eye-height on Milwaukee’s William Contreras. It was an early indicator that the Dodgers closer was about to have a brutal ninth inning.
By the end of his third blown save in four appearances, even Díaz wasn’t sure what his role would be going forward.
“Now I’ve just got to see what they want to do,” he said after the Dodgers’ 5-4 loss to the Brewers. “I want to do the best thing for the team. At the end of the day, if they give me the ball in the ninth I will try to do my job. If they give me the ball in another inning, I will try to do my job. Got to get better, be consistent.”
Manager Dave Roberts, however, as he looked at the state of his bullpen, wasn’t ready to take the closer title from Díaz.
“Give me another option,” Roberts said. “To be quite honest, none of those guys really are throwing the baseball great. So that’s just kind of the way it is.”
The series opener between the Dodgers and Brewers, two of the top teams in the National League, saw Roki Sasaki give up just two runs over six innings despite battling command issues. It included a record-setting go-ahead home run from Max Muncy, his 131st at Dodger Stadium, breaking a tie with Eric Karros for the most all-time at Chavez Ravine.
Then Díaz, who has been working through an evolving set of issues since returning from the injured list (arthroscopic elbow surgery) a couple of weeks ago, took over with a two-run lead. And the game went sideways.
The Dodgers (73-49) fell two games back of the Brewers (75-47) and half a game behind the Braves (73-48).
“A loss is a loss, but there’s certain losses that are more costly,” Roberts said. “And when you use five relievers and you lose a game, that’s costly.”
Dodgers pitcher Edwin Díaz reacts after giving up the tying run in the ninth inning against the Brewers on Thursday.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Though Díaz’s command issues flared early, he struck out Contreras to begin the inning. Then he gave up four consecutive singles.
“I think my fastball command today — I was throwing strikes, but right in the middle,” Díaz said. “Every big league hitter can hit it right in the middle, [even if you] throw 200 miles an hour. I’ve got to get better at that.”
Milwaukee’s Joey Ortiz and David Hamilton both hit center-cut fastballs to put runners on the corners for the top of the order.
Then Jackson Chourio’s and Garrett Mitchell’s RBI singles — to cut the Dodgers lead to one run and to tie the score, respectively — came on sliders. That was the pitch Díaz struggled to get a feel for in Arizona last weekend.
“I think it was better today,” he said. “I think I made good ones. When you miss your fastball in the middle, they see better pitches.”
Díaz then struck out right-handed hitting Gary Sánchez on three pitches, but Roberts had seen enough. He turned to left-hander Alex Vesia.
With two outs and runners on first and second, Vesia got Jake Bauers to hit a ground ball to the right side of the field, but it found a hole to drive in the go-ahead run. And the Dodgers offense didn’t counter in the bottom of the ninth.
“It’s frustrating because I know my ability,” said Díaz, who has an 11.57 ERA since joining the Dodgers last offseason on a three-year, $69-million deal. “I know what I can do on the mound. To not be able to do it sucks. I’ve just got to come tomorrow and try to keep getting better.”
The Dodgers’ bullpen situation has flipped dramatically since his return from injury. Less than three weeks ago, Roberts said his high-leverage relievers made up “as big a trust tree as we’ve had in quite some time.”
When pressed Thursday on why he planned to stick with Díaz in save situations, Roberts’ tone had changed.
“Who’s the other option?” Roberts said. “You look back at the last week, and guys have struggled. … Everyone’s got a role, they all have jobs to do, and they all have to do their job. That’s it.”
One factor has been health. Brock Stewart (right shoulder discomfort) and Will Klein (right elbow loose bodies) have been placed on the IL since Roberts’ “trust tree” comments.
Then there’s the issue of performance.
Scott (2.25 ERA, 16 saves), who served as the closer in Díaz’ three-month absence, has been dealing with inconsistent velocity. But he has three straight holds. On Thursday, he faced only Christian Yelich, who hit a long fly ball into the left-field corner, but Kiké Hernández made the catch before running into the wall.
Vesia surrendered two runs in ⅔ of an inning against the Chicago Cubs on Aug. 4, but he had held opponents hitless with three walks over three appearances before facing Milwaukee.
Evan Phillips seemed to have righted the ship after a rocky return from the IL, but he gave up two earned runs in ⅓ of an inning Tuesday.
What about taking a closer-by-committee approach?
“We’ve got to get other guys on track to even have that be even a valid conversation, to be honest with you,” Roberts said.
So, Díaz will continue working to regain his effectiveness on the mound, without changing roles.
“He’s got to find his way,” Roberts said. “And he’s got to have a runway to find his way. But then it gets to a point where — I’m not there yet, but … I’m betting on the fact that the stuff will kind of right, and he’ll figure it out.”
Walbert Ureña gave up two hits in six innings, Mike Trout and Denzer Guzman led a 15-hit outburst with three singles and an RBI apiece, and the Angels beat the Texas Rangers 7-0 on Thursday night.
Josh Lowe added two hits and two RBIs, and Adam Frazier had two hits and an RBI for the Angels, who extended their win streak to three and had at least 10 hits in a game for the first time since July 8.
Ureña (8-8) struck out five and walked two while lowering his ERA to 2.67. The rookie right-hander has a 2.43 ERA in 18 games since May 1 and has given up no more than one run in 13 of those starts. José Fermin, Tayler Saucedo and Sammy Peralta each threw a scoreless inning to complete the five-hitter.
Rangers starter Jacob deGrom, who has been battling a left hip and glute injury since the All-Star break, was pulled after two innings because of right triceps fatigue.
The 38-year-old right-hander escaped a two-on, one-out jam in the first but gave up two runs and five hits during a 32-pitch second — the first time deGrom (8-8) gave up five hits in an inning since Sept. 5, 2017, with the New York Mets.
Guzman sparked the Angels’ second-inning rally with a single. He went to third on Lowe’s double and scored on Frazier’s one-out single. Lowe tried to score from second on Frazier’s hit but was thrown out by left fielder Wyatt Langford. Wade Meckler singled and Trout hit an RBI single for a 2-0 lead.
The Angels broke open the game with four runs and six hits off Texas left-hander Jordan Montgomery in the fifth.
Singles by Trout, Nolan Schanuel and Vaughn Grissom loaded the bases. Guzman drove in a run with an infield single, Lowe hit a two-run single and Jose Siri’s RBI groundout made it 6-0. Siri added an RBI single in the seventh.
It wasn’t quite Babe Ruth pointing from the batter’s box. The moment won’t make its way into any movie. But Snell did tell manager Dave Roberts over text message that he was going to throw six innings in his first start back from the injured list after undergoing surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow.
Then, en route to a 5-4 walk-off Dodgers victory in 10 innings against the Royals, Snell did just that.
“I knew that’s what the plan was coming in, and I really wanted to execute that plan,” Snell said after limiting the Royals to one run and three hits.
Despite Snell’s resume, the two-time Cy Young winner wasn’t guaranteed a smooth return. It had been three months since he’d last started a major-league game. And it was only his second start of the season, after a late buildup in spring training due to shoulder fatigue, a May season debut against the Braves, and surgery shortly after.
Eventually getting back this version of him, however, was key to the Dodgers’ postseason aspirations.
“I think the biggest thing was just being aggressive,” Snell said. “Be in the zone, attack. I know how good my stuff is, so I didn’t want to just be nibbling and then complaining like, ‘Oh that’s a strike.’ I didn’t want to do any of that again like I did versus Atlanta.”
That was a short and not so sweet season debut. He exited after three innings, having put his team in a five-run (four earned runs) hole.
The difference Tuesday was “stark,” as Roberts put it.
To clear room on the roster to activate Snell, the Dodgers (72-48) optioned left-handed pitcher Charlie Barnes to triple-A and transferred right-handed reliever Blake Treinen (right elbow inflammation) from the 15-day IL to the 60-day. Though he has not yet begun a minor-league rehab assignment, manager Dave Roberts said Treinen has not had a setback.
Snell, who had 10 strikeouts Tuesday, kept the Royals off balance all night leaning on a fastball that had a little extra life to it, a curveball that generated a 63% whiff rate, and a changeup that was especially effective against right-handed hitters.
Max Muncy and teammates celebrate after his walk-off single Tuesday.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
“I was more calm than I thought I was going to be, so that was good,” Snell said. “But the curveball’s finally coming back to how I remember it being. It was always a pitch that was a wipeout, I could throw it, but now I’m finally releasing it where I need to release it. And I’m kind of releasing everything in the same slot out in front.”
Counterintuitively, Snell pointed to his last rehab start, in high-altitude Salt Lake City, as another factor that helped lock him in for Tuesday. It’s a notoriously difficult place to pitch, with the thin mountain air affecting the way the ball moves.
“To have that start and be that frustrated pitching knowing that I can’t throw anything that I want with any shape,” Snell said, “to be able to come here and just pitch and know I can throw a curveball where I want, whenever I want, and a fastball, that felt way better.
“But Salt Lake was so difficult. Oh my God. If I played in Salt Lake growing up, I don’t know if I’d be here today.”
Roberts set expectations low in his pregame availability, saying the hope was to get Snell through five innings. Snell had other plans.
He struck out the side in the first inning and retired the first 10 hitters he faced.
When he finally gave up back-to-back singles to the Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr. and Jac Caglianone, neither was particularly well struck — a soft line drive and a grounder that found a hole on the right side of the infield.
With runners on the corners and one out, Snell gave up the only run of his start, on a sacrifice fly by Salvador Perez.
The next inning, Snell worked around a leadoff hit — a blooper into shallow right field that speedy Tyler Tolbert stretched into a double — and a stolen base, to strand Tolbert at third.
Back out for the sixth, Snell retired the side in order. He finished his outing by getting Perez to chase a changeup below the zone and pop it up behind second base.
“He was fantastic tonight,” Roberts said. “And you know we pushed him a little bit into the six and through the six, but just because he was so efficient, certainly that extra inning was huge for us.”
It was especially important once the back and forth in late innings pushed the game into extras.
Hard-throwing right-hander Seth Halvorsen tossed a scoreless tenth inning in his Dodgers debut, setting up Max Muncy for a walk-off single in the bottom half of the inning.
“That’s the Snell that we’re used to seeing,” Muncy said. “And hopefully we have him for the next two, three months — for the long run.”
PHOENIX — Dodgers reliever Jack Dreyer let loose a shout, balling his hands into fists as he released the tension of the last several minutes — or, from a team perspective, over a week.
The Dodgers had just pulled off a 2-1 win against the Diamondbacks in the 10th inning, and, mercifully, snapped a seven-game losing streak. It was their longest such streak since July 2025. They haven’t had a losing streak longer than seven games since September 2017 (11).
“I think that was the most emotion I’ve ever showed,” said Dreyer, who picked up his first save of the season. “It was nice because I knew I wouldn’t go back out for the next inning. … The game was over. So kind of let the emotions take over for a little bit.”
Before this latest streak, the Dodgers had done an admirable job of not piling up losses. They hadn’t lost more than four straight games until this week. But the Dodgers were swept in two straight series, against the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs heading into the weekend against Arizona (62-56).
The Dodgers’ National League West lead over the second-place Diamondbacks moved up to 8½ games.
Many of the Dodgers’ recent problems still flared. The offense is slumping, and the back end of the bullpen has been shaky. But at least the streak was finally over.
The Dodgers’ offense has been all but silenced in two games against Arizona. A day after Merrill Kelly kept the Dodgers hitless through his first five innings, Arizona starter Brandon Pfaadt gave up only a pair of infield hits to Andy Pages through seven innings.
“I think each individual, there’s a different component,” Roberts said. “But I think collectively, we just gotta come together. We’re just better than this. As we always say, it’s not a try league. We gotta get it done. We gotta be better, and again, to score one or two runs to win, it’s just a hard quality of life. I understand hitting is hard. I did it, but we’ve got a lot of talent in the room.”
Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto was nearly as effective, holding the Diamondbacks to three hits. But he wasn’t as efficient and exited with two outs in the sixth inning, his pitch count up to 107.
The game remained scoreless until Kyle Tucker, whose bat has been hot this road trip, hit a solo home run to right field off Diamondbacks reliever Jonathan Loáisiga in the eighth.
Dodgers reliever Kyle Hurt retired the first two batters in the eighth before giving up a single and back-to-back walks to load the bases. Tanner Scott replaced him and got out of the jam by inducing Waldschmidt to fly out.
In the ninth, Díaz, who gave up a walk-off home run Friday, blew it again, but he at least managed to keep the score tied.
Díaz gave up back-to-back triples to Geraldo Perdomo and Corbin Carroll to tie the score. He retired three of the next four batters, with an intentional walk in between, to send the game into extra innings.
“You saw once they scored the run, man on third base, nobody out, you saw the intensity pick up, the stuff picked up,” Roberts said. “The fastball got better. The slider got better. Even talking to him after the game, that’s how we have to be from the first pitch. That was the first game I saw this year where he had some real intensity.”
Tucker served as the Dodgers’ automatic runner on second base to start the 10th inning, and with two outs, he advanced to third base on a wild pitch, as Feduccia took first on a walk.
That put runners on the corners for Ohtani. He hit a sharp groundball to the right of Diamondbacks first baseman Tim Tawa, who made a diving stop. But the ball rolled away from him as he went to flip to first, giving Ohtani time to reach first and Tucker time to score the go-ahead run.
“I guess that was the game right there,” Tucker said. “So it was a great at-bat out of him and being able to get down the line was huge.”
Clinging to a narrow lead, the Dodgers turned to Dreyer. He struck out Tawa. And then he got James McCann to hit a soft grounder up the middle, but McCann beat second baseman Tommy Edman’s throw to first by a split second.
With runners on the corners, Waldschmidt hit a bouncing comebacker that Dreyer snagged and threw to second before Edman quickly threw to Freddie Freeman to end the game.
“It helps when you have some of the best defensive players in the game behind you,” Dreyer said. “I knew that all I needed to do was get the ball to Tommy and he would take care of the rest. I don’t know if I had too much velo on the throw to him, but once it got to him, he made the play.
“That was fun to watch.”
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani hits an RBI single in the 10th inning against the Diamondbacks on Saturday.
(Rick Scuteri / Associated Press)
Ohtani plays catch
Fans consolidated in the right field stands as Ohtani warmed up by throwing a weighted plyo ball against the back wall of the visitor’s bullpen and then returned to the outfield to play catch.
It was the first time Ohtani, who threw on flat ground from about 90 feet, has been spotted playing catch before a game since July 22, when he threw a 31-pitch bullpen in Philadelphia. According to the team, he has been keeping his arm moving with plyo ball drills.
Ohtani declined to comment through a team representative.
“It’s sort of Shohei and the training staff driving it, more Shohei,” Roberts said of Ohtani’s throwing schedule. “So I don’t know if he’s going to come back out there [Sunday] and pick up a baseball, or if it’s going to be Monday, but I do think that him getting out there and playing catch is a step in the right direction.”
MIAMI — Sandy Alcantara struck out eight in seven innings, becoming the Miami Marlins’ career leader in innings pitched, and Xavier Edwards had three RBIs in a 7-0 victory over the Angels on Saturday.
Alcantara (13-6) broke the record in the third, working his 1,226th inning and passing Ricky Nolasco, who pitched 1,225⅔ innings for the Marlins (59-59) from 2006-13. He gave up three hits and walked one. Reliever Pete Fairbanks struck out all three batters in the ninth to end the game.
Edwards hit an RBI double as Miami took a 2-0 lead in the third, followed by Otto Lopez’s two-run single to double the Marlins’ lead. Jakob Marsee tripled to lead off the fifth, and Edwards singled to send him home.
Griffin Conine singled and Heriberto Hernández doubled in the fifth to make it 7-0.
Angels starter Walbert Ureña (7-8) pitched the first 2⅓ innings. He gave up four hits and four earned runs. He walked three and struck out two. Brett Kerry pitched the final 5⅔ innings, striking out seven and walking one. He gave up six hits.
Up next: RHP Grayson Rodriguez (3-4, 7.24 ERA) will start on the mound for the Angels (45-72) in the series finale on Sunday. RHP Ryan Gusto (0-3, 4.80) will start for the Marlins.
PHOENIX — Dodgers closer Edwin Díaz trudged toward the dugout as Arizona’s Ryan Waldschmidt celebrated with teammates after hitting a two-run, walk-off home run to seal a 4-3 win that sent the Dodgers to a season-worst seventh straight loss.
“We’ve just got to play better,” manager Dave Roberts said before the game. “I don’t think that the standings — obviously, they are important, they matter. But I just feel like with the talent that we have, we just got to play good baseball, and it’ll take care of itself. It always does.”
The Dodgers’ recent skid dropped their National League West lead into single digits for the first time in over a month. They are now only 7½ games ahead of the second-place Diamondbacks in the division.
They also now have the fourth-best record in the majors (69-47), falling behind the Brewers (72-44) and Braves (70-46) and Rays (69-46).
“A week ago, it looked a lot different,” Roberts said. “And another week from now, it could look even more different. So you’ve just got to put your head down and play baseball.”
They did, at least, have a better record than last season (67-49) at the 116-game mark. But the Dodgers would prefer to, unlike last year, at least earn a first-round bye, and ideally home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
Their performance Friday sent them in the wrong direction.
The Dodgers went hitless against Diamondbacks starting pitcher Merrill Kelly for the first five innings. Kyle Tucker and Shohei Ohtani both drew walks, as the Dodgers’ only baserunners before the sixth — and Ohtani was thrown out attempting to steal second to end the third inning.
Finally, leading off the sixth, Tommy Edman — who three innings prior was robbed of a home run on a leaping grab by Diamondbacks right fielder Corbin Carroll — broke up Kelly’s no-hit bid with a sharp infield hit.
Kelly picked off Edman at first base, but Hunter Feduccia followed with a single of his own, the catcher’s first hit since rejoining the Dodgers at the trade deadline.
Ohtani and Andy Pages both drew walks to load the bases. And the Dodgers finally scored on a groundball fielder’s choice from Freddie Freeman. That single run was all they got out of the inning.
Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki held the Diamondbacks to two runs in six innings. He surrendered a solo homer to Arizona third baseman Nolan Arenado in the second and an RBI triple to Geraldo Perdomo in the fifth. But he only gave up two other hits.
With both starters out by the seventh (Kelly exited with two outs in the sixth because of cramping in his right leg), the Dodgers orchestrated a comeback and then gave it up.
Edman drove in the tying run, too, lining a single to left for the Dodgers’ third hit of the inning off Diamondbacks right-hander Taylor Clarke in the seventh. But the Dodgers failed to turn a bases-loaded situation into a crooked number when Ohtani grounded into a double play to end the inning.
The next inning, Pages gave the Dodgers the lead with a solo homer off Diamondbacks lefty Brandyn Garcia.
The Diamondbacks threatened against Dodgers setup man Tanner Scott. But he escaped a bases-loaded jam in the eighth by winning a 12-pitch at-bat against Arenado for the inning-ending strikeout.
Bubic joins the team
Trade-deadline acquisition Kris Bubic, who is rehabbing at the Dodgers’ Arizona complex, is taking advantage of the opportunity to be around the team this weekend at Chase Field.
“It’s been a whirlwind the last couple days,” Bubic said. “Obviously I had been with Kansas City the whole time since I was drafted. I’ve been there my whole big-league career. I’d been on the shelf for a little bit now, but to hear I was getting traded over here was pretty exciting.
“Obviously the roster speaks for itself. The success speaks for itself. The opportunity to be a part of this, to learn from these guys, all the coaches on the staff and whatnot, it’s going to be an exciting time. I’m really looking forward to getting started.”
Pitcher Kris Bubic throws during a game between the Kansas City Royals and Seattle Mariners on May 3.
(Lindsey Wasson / Associated Press)
Bubic initially landed on the injured list in mid-May with a low-grade flexor strain in his left forearm, he specified. While working back from that injury, he had setbacks with an impingement in his left shoulder.
Because he has an injury history with both his elbow (2023 Tommy John surgery) and shoulder (2025 rotator cuff strain), the Royals didn’t rush him back. Bubic said he had a cortisone injection on July 1 and then threw off a mound on Sunday.
“I’m kind of itching to get back going,” he said. “But I know talking with the staff here they’ve got a pretty good plan. I’m expected to come out of the ‘pen in some capacity. At this point, I’m looking forward to getting back on the field and helping this team down the stretch.”
Bubic said the Dodgers have already presented him with a couple mechanical tweaks. He hopes to begin a minor-league rehab assignment around the end of the month or beginning of September.
Homestand plan
The Dodgers plan to pitch two-time Cy Young winners in back-to-back games against the Royals when they return to Los Angeles next week.
On Monday, Tarik Skubal is scheduled to make his first home start at Dodger Stadium, and second with the Dodgers since being acquired in a trade with the Detroit Tigers. On Wednesday, Blake Snell is set to return from the IL for his second start of the season, his first since May.
CHICAGO — Dodgers third base coach Dino Ebel went directly to Shohei Ohtani’s competition for NL MVP with his gripe.
Ebel, who coached Cubs star center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong with Team USA in the World Baseball Classic this year, gave him grief for serving as the designated hitter on Wednesday. He couldn’t play center field every day?
Ohtani and Crow-Armstrong had just traded leadoff home runs, so Crow-Armstrong told reporters that he shot back with: “Well, it took your guy 10 pitches, it only took me one.”
He was exaggerating slightly. Ohtani’s leadoff homer came on the seventh pitch of the at-bat against Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga. And that, of course, wasn’t really how Crow-Armstrong felt.
“A [seven]-pitch at-bat to start the game and finish it off with a 110 [mph] ball at 20 degrees is pretty ridiculous,” Crow-Armstrong said.
The National League MVP race transformed into a head-to-head showdown between the frontrunners at Wrigley Field on Wednesday, as the Dodgers fell to the Cubs 7-6.
“Over the course of a season, there’s a lot of ups and downs,” Ohtani, a four-time MVP, said through interpreter Will Ireton. “It’s too early to think about that. So in a way for me it’s more important for the team to win and for me to contribute to that.”
Though Crow-Armstrong played along with the MVP talk, he came around to a similar sentiment.
“I would be crazy to say that I don’t want to win an MVP, but if we’re talking about having priorities straight, I think mine are pretty straight,” he said. “It’s not on the forefront of my mind. It’s fun to joke about and it’s fun to acknowledge and I think it’s absolutely OK to pay attention to. But it’s not following me up to the plate.
“If you guys want to talk about all this back and forth, like, I really should go get in the lab and start pitching. I really should.”
Ohtani was considered the runaway MVP favorite early in the year, while his pitching performance also put him in the Cy Young conversation. But his extended absence from the mound (left knee issue) and Crow-Armstrong’s contributions on offense and defense have made the race more interesting.
Crow-Armstrong entered Wednesday leading the majors in fWAR (7.5), followed by Ohtani (6.4).
Chicago Cubs designated hitter Pete Crow-Armstrong drops the bat after hitting his second home run against the Dodgers.
(Jessie Alcheh / Associated Press)
“Simply put, just having your name in the same conversation as someone as profound as [Ohtani] feels, it’s awesome and it’s a nice nod,” Crow-Armstrong said. “It’s cool. But … I would feel much more accomplished taking them (the Dodgers) down at some point. I want to see this group (the Cubs) in October because I think it’ll be a dangerous, dangerous group in the playoffs.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts irked Cubs fans a week and a half ago when, asked to evaluate Ohtani’s season overall, he said he’ll still be the NL MVP.
“I haven’t followed the race,” Roberts said before the game Wednesday. “I have followed what Pete’s doing, and he’s figured some things out with the bat. “He’s having a heck of a year. And he has rightfully made it a lot closer than most people expected. He’s had a tremendous season.”
That continued in the finale of the three-game series, for Crow-Armstrong and Ohtani.
Ohtani, struck first, notching the 32nd leadoff homer of his career and 29th as a Dodger, breaking a tie with Davey Lopes for the second-most in franchise history, behind Mookie Betts (32).
In the bottom half of the inning, Crow-Armstrong matched Ohtani with a tying blast.
The next inning, he delivered a two-run double, and in the fourth, he mashed a two-run blast off the right-field scoreboard to put the Cubs up 5-1.
Not to be outdone, Ohtani led off the fifth inning with a single, but the Dodgers failed to score. Then in the eighth, he made it his first multi-homer game of the season, with a two-run shot that trimmed the Cubs’ lead to 7-6.
“He’s a great player,” Ohtani said of Crow-Armstrong. “But I’m really focused on myself on the hitting side of things right now, really working towards hopefully getting back on the mound and working on that side of the game as well.”
Ohtani’s timeline back to the mound is nebulous at this point. Roberts didn’t have a specific day circled to resume playing catch, and Ohtani didn’t provide one, either.
“It’s getting pretty good day by day,” Ohtani said of his knee. “It’s hard to tell at this point what the schedule is going to look like. First I need to do [weighted ply balls], then go into long toss, then go into a bullpen progression. Rather than rush the progression of this I would rather make sure we’re headed in the right direction. But making sure we’re taking the right steps.”
The Dodgers’ rotation depth means he doesn’t necessarily need to build up to a full starter’s workload by the end of the year. Ohtani said he’d leave the timing of his progression up to the front office.
“Any innings we get from him are bonuses, given he’s a two-way player,” Roberts said. “Whether it’s one inning, two innings, three innings, I’m not too concerned about the timeline. … I certainly see him as a starter, but how much he could give us, to then have somebody [piggybacking] behind him, that we don’t know yet.”
Freddie Freeman pulled
Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman left the game in the bottom of the fifth inning after a pitch hit his right hand. But X-rays came back negative, Roberts said.
“I obviously didn’t come out of that at-bat because I knew it hit my bat as well,” Freeman said. “It hit bat, then hand and pinched my hand onto the bat. Next pitch, I swung. I could swing, and I swung again. As the adrenaline wore off, pain got a little bit more.”
Freeman said he expects to be ready to return to the lineup by the Dodgers’ next game, against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday.
CHICAGO — The Dodgers ended up with an acute need at the trade deadline after all.
Catcher Dalton Rushing’s elbow injury was diagnosed as a partial tear of his ulnar collateral ligament, as manager Dave Roberts first told AM 570’s David Vassegh.
“It’s a bummer because he has made a lot of strides,” Roberts said before the Dodgers’ 7-6 loss to the Cubs on Wednesday, which extended the Dodgers’ season-high losing streak to six games. “Even just this right here, you’re talking about over 125 plate appearances that you’re missing out on, and also opportunities to catch major league innings. So I feel for Dalton.”
He’ll be shut down from throwing for four to six weeks, Roberts said. But the plan is for him to resume hitting before then. Asked if Rushing could catch again this season, Roberts said he believed there was a “very small” chance.
“I hope I’m wrong,” Roberts said. “He’s a tough kid, and so for him to go through this speaks a lot. So I think that would be great if he can. Certainly a possibility with the time, but we’re certainly trying to keep the bat alive, for sure.”
Even if Rushing doesn’t return behind the plate, his left-handed bat off the bench could be valuable for the Dodgers down the stretch and even into the postseason. As constructed, the Dodgers don’t have an equivalent for pinch-hitting situations.
Next, Rushing, in conversation with the team and medical staff, will have to decide whether he needs to undergo surgery to repair the ligament. He did not make the trip to Chicago, so he was not available to comment on the situation.
“Over the next couple weeks, I think that we’ll have a better idea of how he’s responding with time,” Roberts said. “I do think that there’s really not much cost, outside of two weeks or whatever, to kind of wait and see how he responds to some treatment and some kind of stuff that they decide to do.”
Depending on the severity of a partial UCL tear, rehab and strengthening the muscles around the elbow can sometimes at least put off surgery. If that’s not a viable option, there are a range of operations to address UCL injuries — from reinforcement with an internal brace, to full reconstruction (Tommy John surgery).
Elbow surgeries tend to come with a lengthy recovery timeline. So, even if surgery becomes inevitable, as long as Rushing can hit and the Dodgers think he can contribute off the bench into the postseason, holding off any operation until the offseason could make sense.
Rushing’s injury will impact not only the catching corps but also the offense, necessitating a shift to defense-first catchers.
Taking on starting catcher duties for nearly two months with Will Smith (neck) on the injured list, Rushing had an .809 OPS when the Dodgers scratched him from the game Sunday with what they initially called minor arm irritation.
“I think that it was something that was there, and then it just showed itself Sunday,” Roberts said.
Though Smith has been at least hitting in the batting cages, he’s had a back-and-forth recovery from an injury the Dodgers initially hoped wouldn’t need an IL stint.
“Everything keeps moving forward, which is a good thing,” Roberts said. “There’s no timeline as far as when he faces pitching, let alone when he goes out on a [minor-leauge rehab assignment]. Then we’ll have more clarity on a projected date of return, but right now I don’t know.”
So, the Dodgers acquired an entirely new catching tandem before the trade deadline Monday. On Tuesday, they activated Ben Rortvedt and Hunter Feduccia, both catchers who have played for the Dodgers in recent years. They optioned Eliezer Alfonzo and designated Chuckie Robonson for assignment.
Rortvedt, who Roberts said could get the “taking a lion’s share for the foreseeable future,” caught two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal in his Dodgers debut Tuesday. Feduccia caught Lauer on Wednesday.
Lauer gave up six runs and 11 hits to the Cubs and lasted just four innings, in his worst appearance as a Dodger. Wednesday marked the Dodgers’ first loss with Lauer on the mound, snapping a streak of nine games.
The Cubs completed a three-game sweep, during which the Dodgers were outscored 22-12. They’ve been swept for two straight series, also dropping all three home games to the Red Sox last weekend. The Dodgers were last swept in consecutive series last year, getting swept by the Houston Astros and Milwaukee Brewers July 4-9.
MVP standoff between Ohtani, Crow-Armstrong
Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani gestures towards the dugout after hitting a home run to lead off Wednesday’s game.
(Jessie Alcheh / Associated Press)
The frontrunners in the National League MVP race traded leadoff home runs at Wrigley Field Wednesday.
First was Dodgers two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani, who notched the 32nd leadoff homer of his career and 29th as a Dodger, breaking a tie with Davey Lopes for the second-most in franchise history, behind Mookie Betts (32). And he made it his first multi-homer game of the season in the eighth inning, with a two-run shot that trimmed the Cubs’ lead to 7-6.
Cubs star center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong matched him with a tying blast in the bottom of the first inning. In the fourth, he mashed a two-run blast off the right-field scoreboard for his third multi-homer game of the season.
Roberts irked Cubs fans a week and a half ago when, asked to evaluate Ohtani’s season overall, he said he’ll still be the NL MVP.
“I haven’t followed the race,” Roberts said. “I have followed what Pete’s doing, and he’s figured some things out with the bat. “He’s having a heck of a year. And he has rightfully made it a lot closer than most people expected. He’s had a tremendous season.”
Ohtani was considered the runaway MVP favorite early in the year, while his pitching performance also put him in the Cy Young conversation. But his extended absence from the mound (left knee issue) and Crow-Armstrong’s contributions on offense and defense have made the race more interesting.
Crow-Armstrong entered Wednesday leading the majors in fWAR (7.5), followed by Ohtani (6.4).
Ohtani is expected to begin playing catch in the near future, but Roberts didn’t have a specific day circled for catch play or his return to the mound.
The Dodgers’ rotation depth means he doesn’t necessarily need to build up to a full starter’s workload by the end of the year.
“Any innings we get from him are bonuses, given he’s a two-way player,” Roberts said. “Whether it’s one inning, two innings, three innings, I’m not too concerned about the timeline. … I certainly see him as a starter, but how much he could give us, to then have somebody [piggybacking] behind him, that we don’t know yet.”
All of that momentum, and the staggering amount of talent on the roster, have overshadowed the Dodgers’ recent poor play. A clean slate against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field was a chance to set a new tone after being swept by the Boston Red Sox at home. Instead, they lost 10-5 to open the three-game series.
“This is a playoff-contending team,” manager Dave Roberts said of the Cubs before the game. “We’ve got to play well. Like I said [Sunday], we got outplayed. Outcompeted against. So we need to play better. We’re going to play better this series. I don’t know the results, but we will play with more urgency.”
The Dodgers (69-44) essentially played out that prophecy to begin the game. Against left-hander Matthew Boyd, Shohei Ohtani and Andy Pages hit back-to-back singles, and Tommy Edman roped a three-run homer to left.
Then Boyd settled in. He got out of the inning with three straight fly outs — Cubs fans enthusiastically booing Kyle Tucker, who was never expected to re-sign with the team when he hit free agency after one season in Chicago, when he flied out to right field.
Dodgers left-handed All-Star Justin Wrobleski struggled. For the second start in a row, he surrendered four home runs.
The first three came with men on base, expediting the damage. And they came from all over the Cubs lineup. In the first inning, No. 2 hitter Seiya Suzuki lined a fastball into the stands for two runs. The next inning, it was No. 9 hitter Kevin Alcántara who put the Cubs (64-49) ahead with a two-run blast. In the third, cleanup hitter Carson Kelly jumped on a slider for a two-run shot.
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, right, is tagged out by Chicago Cubs first baseman Michael Busch, left, on a pickoff at first base in the second inning Monday.
(David Banks / Associated Press)
Wrobleski finally threw a hitless fourth, working around a leadoff walk to briefly stymie the Cubs’ offensive push. Then in the fifth, he threw a sinker down the middle to left-handed hitter Michael Busch, who drove it out for a solo homer.
Busch, a former Dodger, coincidentally is part of the Skubal trade tree. The Cubs acquired him and reliever Yency Almonte for pitching prospect Jackson Ferris and outfield prospect Zyhir Hope. Hope was part of the trade package for Skubal.
Roberts pulled Wrobleski after Busch’s home run. The seven earned runs he gave up tied a season high. But this time, he only pitched 4⅓ innings, compared to the 8⅔ innings he threw against the Atlanta Braves on May 10.
The Dodgers countered with a one-run rally in the fourth, and Teoscar Hernández hit a solo home run onto Waveland Ave. in the sixth inning.
The Cubs, however, squashed thoughts of a potential comeback with a three-run rally in the sixth against Edgardo Henriquez and Tanner Scott.
Walbert Ureña pitched three-hit ball over six innings and Wade Meckler hit a two-run homer off Milwaukee ace Jacob Misiorowski as the Angels beat the Brewers 3-0 on Sunday.
Ureña (7-7) struck out seven and walked three as the Angels (43-69) broke a five-game losing streak. The rookie right-hander has a 2.54 ERA and a 2.25 ERA since May 1, a stretch in which he has given up one or fewer earned runs in 12 of 16 starts.
Angels reliever Ryan Zeferjahn replaced the injured Sam Bachman with a runner on second and one out in the eighth. He struck out Brice Turang, gave up an infield single to Jackson Chourio and struck out Garrett Mitchell with runners on first and third to end the inning.
Zeferjahn then struck out two of four batters in the ninth for his fourth save.
Misiorowski (11-5) gave up two hits in seven innings, striking out 10 and walking one. Misiorowski extended his franchise record of double-digit strikeout games to 10 while throwing 66 of his 83 pitches for strikes.
The game was a matchup of two of the hardest throwing starters in baseball. Misiorowski and Ureña each struck out the side on 10 pitches in the first and the pair combined to throw 10 pitches at 100 mph or more.
Vaughn Grissom hit a 91-mph slider to center for a leadoff single, and Meckler followed by driving a 95-mph cutter 388 feet to right for his third homer of the season and a 2-0 lead.
Misiorowski then retired 16 straight batters before issuing a two-out walk to Jo Adell in the seventh.
The Angels added an insurance run off Brewers left-hander DL Hall in the eighth when Denzer Guzman walked, took second on a groundout, third on a wild pitch and scored on Zach Neto’s two-out RBI infield single.
Up next: The Angels have not named a starter for when they open a series in Baltimore on Tuesday. The Orioles have not named a starter.
Brice Turang and Jake Bauers powered a five-run fifth inning with home runs, Shane Drohan struck out seven in six innings, and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Angels 6-2 on Friday night.
Drohan (6-4) gave up two runs on four hits and walked one while delivering his fifth straight start of six innings or more for the NL Central-leading Brewers, who have won nine of 13 games.
Milwaukee reliever Grant Anderson threw a one-two-three seventh and got the first out of the eighth, Abner Uribe retired two batters in the eighth, and closer Trevor Megill retired the side in order with a strikeout in the ninth.
Starter Ryan Johnson (2-6) gave up five runs and six hits in 4⅓ innings for the Angels (42-68), who have lost four straight, seven of eight and 19 of 24.
Milwaukee (68-41) took a 1-0 lead in the second when Bauers and Garrett Mitchell singled and No. 9 batter Cooper Pratt dunked a two-out RBI single to shallow left.
Pratt led off the fifth with a walk and Turang, the leadoff man who leads major league second basemen in OPS (.834), doubles (25), RBIs (68), runs (71) and walks (61), drove an inside cutter from Johnson 398 feet over the wall in left-center for his 16th homer and a 3-0 lead.
Jackson Chourio singled, William Contreras walked with one out, and Johnson was pulled in favor of Angels right-hander Jose Fermin. Bauers then crushed a three-run homer to right, the ball leaving his bat at 110 mph and traveling 424 feet, for a 6-0 lead.
The Halos trimmed the deficit to 6-2 in the bottom of the fifth when Vaughn Grissom singled and Denzer Guzman drove an opposite-field, two-run homer to right-center, his fifth of the season.
Up next: Brewers LHP Robert Gasser (3-4, 4.71 ERA) will oppose Angels RHP Jose Soriano (9-6, 3.29 ERA) on Saturday night.
Long-term experiments demand resources, which is why the Dodgers’ lab is perfect for the Roki Sasaki project.
Funding is no issue. Time is no object. Pressure is a privilege and so is patience.
And when the Dodgers set out to prove a hypothesis — Roki Sasaki can be a “Cy Young-caliber” starting pitcher, as general manager Brandon Gomes has suggested — they did it with the luxury of seeing the project all the way through, until they’ve been proved right.
And most everyone else, wrong.
No, Sasaki didn’t need to be moved to the bullpen.
No, Sasaki didn’t need to be sent back down to the minor leagues.
No, Sasaki wasn’t going to be a bust.
Yes, the Dodgers knew exactly what they were doing by continuing to trot out the 24-year-old right-hander, providing him with the big league education they promised.
Thursday’s test ran 5⅓ innings, and Sasaki — with his bigger glove and harder splitter — held the Seattle Mariners at bay until the sixth inning, when they scored their only two runs in a game the Dodgers won 6-2.
For the fourth straight start, Sasaki performed like the pitcher who was promised when he picked the Dodgers 18 months ago, trusting them to develop him into a starting star.
Tack on another win to three consecutive he’d previously recorded, against the Colorado Rockies, New York Yankees and New York Mets.
In his past four starts, Sasaki (5-5) has struck out 26 batters, walked seven and has a 2.25 ERA and 3.44 FIP in 24 innings.
Man alive, the Dodgers have done it! “The Monster of the Reiwa Era” is breaking out. And the rest of baseball should probably be terrified.
Teammates congratulate Roki Sasaki as he’s pulled from the game by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts in the sixth inning Thursday against the Seattle Mariners.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
“This is a tough league,” catcher Dalton Rushing said. “You have to have confidence and if you don’t have confidence, it’s hard to be successful. I think that’s all it was. He lacked a little bit of confidence early on. And as soon as he had that runway to kind of allow himself to be himself, you’ve seen the best out of him.”
Progress isn’t linear. But it’s been undeniable.
As a much-hyped rookie last season, Sasaki didn’t step right in as a permanent part of the Dodgers’ starting rotation. He had health issues and crises of confidence. And he had to acclimate to a culture far from his home in Japan, and to do it with his baseball-mad country following along closely.
All while playing under the Dodgers’ high-powered microscope. (Ask Kyle Tucker, a 29-year-old, English-speaking American, how challenging it’s been.)
Then, in the postseason, Sasaki became a not-so-secret secret weapon out of the bullpen in the Dodgers’ successful World Series defense. A step forward in relief, and then, as a sophomore starter, several steps back.
This spring training, Sasaki posted a 15.58 ERA and allowed 15 walks in 8⅔ innings. He looked lost — like, I thought, someone whose too-often dejected body language told us the glare of Dodger Stadium’s bright lights would do more damage than help.
I felt bad for the young man, felt he should get to fix his issues in the minors. I doubted his fortitude.
To start the regular season, Sasaki was shaky. He struggled with command. Failed to get out of the fifth inning in his first three starts. And the appeals began for the Dodgers to sign Sasaki up for duty in the ‘pen.
But the Dodgers (69-40) didn’t seem to consider it.
Why would they? They’re incentivized to see this trial all the way through, because of what it says about them as a developmental destination. As the club that pushes the right buttons. That can figure out how to help top talent figure it out.
A lower-half mechanical change over the All-Star break helped the 6-foot-2 Sasaki’s retooled splitter regain its movement and his fastball its heat; he hit or eclipsed 100 mph six times Thursday.
Also, a noticeably larger glove seems to have helped him curb his habit as an overly generous tipper. They thought he might have been inadvertently cluing in opponents with his movements on the mound — now they’ve found a way to better hide them, though neither Sasaki nor manager Dave Roberts want to credit the leather for this recent breakthrough.
“It’s not the glove,” Roberts said. “I think it’s just more of even the second half, when he came out that first start, you just saw that I think he just kind of decided that it’s time to go and finish strong. It’s a new half, it’s a new beginning. And you’ve seen a different player, you know, to be quite honest.
“There’s a lot more confidence … I use that word ‘conviction’ a lot, and there’s a lot of conviction.”
Because it’s not the size of a glove on a man, right? It’s his heart.
LaMonte Wade Jr. drew a bases-loaded walk that forced home the go-ahead run in a four-run ninth inning, and the Houston Astros came back to beat the Angels 6-4 on Monday night.
The Astros rallied on a hit, two walks, two errors and two hit batters to hand the Angels (42-65) their ninth loss this season when leading after eight innings.
Houston (53-55) trailed 4-0 after three, but Taylor Trammell homered for a second straight game and the fifth time this season to cut it to 4-1 in the fourth.
Jeremy Peña doubled leading off the eighth against Ryan Zeferjahn, extending his hitting streak to nine games. Yordan Alvarez hit an RBI single to make it 4-2.
José Fermin (3-2) hit Trammell with a pitch leading off the ninth. Christian Walker singled and Trammell scored to make it 4-3 when second baseman Vaughn Grissom let Lucas Spence’s potential double-play grounder go through his legs for a costly error.
Sam Bachman entered and got an out before walking Alvarez intentionally to load the bases. Bachman grazed Isaac Paredes with a pitch to tie it, and Wade walked to give Houston the lead. Alvarez scored the final run when Jose Altuve reached on a fielding error by Bachman.
Tatsuya Imai didn’t make it out of the first inning for the third time this season in a start for Houston. He gave up a sacrifice fly to Nolan Schanuel and an RBI single to Grissom before AJ Blubaugh came in to get the final out of the inning.
Grissom hit his seventh homer — off Blubaugh — and Jo Adell blooped an RBI double to make it 4-0 in the third.
Cristian Javier (1-1) followed Blubaugh and struck out seven over five shutout innings for the win. Josh Hader walked two in the ninth before earning his 13th save.
Angels starter Walbert Ureña gave up a run on two hits in six innings and left with a 4-1 lead. Fermin got one out and was charged with three runs — one earned.
Up next: Astros RHP Peter Lambert (8-5, 3.03 ERA) starts Tuesday against Angels LHP Reid Detmers (3-7, 4.05).
SAN FRANCISCO — Mike Trout had his first four-hit game in more than five years, Jorge Soler and Jo Adell homered and the Angels beat the San Francisco Giants 4-3 on Sunday to snap a three-game skid and avoid a series sweep.
Angels starter José Soriano (9-6) allowed an unearned run in five innings. The 27-year-old right-hander gave up three hits, walked three and had five strikeouts. Mitch Farris got the final two outs for his first career save.
San Francisco, which had its four-game home win streak snapped, is the only team in MLB without a series sweep of three-plus games this season.
Trout’s first four-hit game since April 26, 2021, moved him past Tim Salmon on the Angels’ career doubles and singles lists. He went four for four with a double and three singles.
Trout’s double was his 340th, moving past Salmon for second on the franchise list behind Garret Anderson’s 489. Trout also is now fourth on the Angels’ all-time list with 1,014 singles, trailing Anderson (1,572), Darin Erstad (1,082) and Brian Downing (1,062).
Trout’s four-hit game was the 21st of his career and raised his average to .247.
Soler hit a leadoff homer, Nolan Schanuel walked and Adell’s 446-foot home run gave the Angels a 4-0 lead in the fourth inning.
Luis Arraez had an RBI groundout in the fifth and added a two-run double in the ninth for the Giants. Drew Cavanaugh went two for two and walked twice.
Carson Whisenhunt (2-1), who was recalled from triple-A Sacramento, gave up four runs and had seven strikeouts in five innings.
Up next for the Angels: RHP Walbert Ureña (6-7, 2.78 ERA) starts Tuesday in the opener of a three-game home series against Houston. The Astros have not named a starter.
NEW YORK — Dodgers reliever Will Klein had just induced the Mets’ Marcus Semien to whiff on a high fastball. So, he went there again, a little further inside. But Semien got a hold of it for a three-run home run that put the game thoroughly out of reach.
The Dodgers ended an impressive road trip on a sour note with the 8-3 loss to the New York Mets.
They went 6-3 on their East Coast swing and won series against the New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies and Mets.
“It’s great,” manager Dave Roberts said Saturday night. “It seems like we’ve been on the road a long time, but the travel has been nice as far as staying in this time zone. We’re finding ways to win. So that’s the main thing. That’s the object of the game.”
The Dodgers’ All-Stars, as well as Roberts and his coaching staff, left for Philadelphia two weeks ago. The rest of the team met them in New York for three games against the Yankees. Then they traveled to Philadelphia for a three-game set, took a detour to Washington to visit the White House before returning to New York.
“It’s been a long road trip — especially for the guys who went to Philly for the All-Star Game,” right fielder Kyle Tucker said. “Being able to come out of the break and play some really good teams and put together really competitive at-bats and great innings from our pitching staff is huge. Some of the guys are kind of grinding in terms of how long they’ve been away from L.A. It’s kind of part of it. You’ve got to come out and play regardless and they’ve done a great job of that.”
Even so, the Dodgers (67-39) played cleaner baseball on this extended road trip — a couple baserunning mistakes aside — than they did in the homestand before the break.
Maybe the Dodgers just needed time off to reset.
Against the Mets (44-62) on Sunday, the first couple innings didn’t look promising. After Shohei Ohtani led with a double and Max Muncy drew a two-out walk, both were left stranded.
A.J. Ewing’s lead-off double against Dodgers starter Emmet Sheehan, however, almost immediately led to a run. Francisco Lindor then sent a low changeup into shallow right field for an RBI single.
The Dodgers’ three-up, three-down second inning ended when Teoscar Hernández tried to stretch a single into a double and ran into an out. Then, Sheehan hit Tyrone Taylor with a pitch to start the bottom half of the inning.
Sheehan retired the next three batters as the Dodgers started to take control. They pulled into the lead with a two-run third inning, powered by doubles from Eliézer Alfonzo — his second double in as many appearances — and Freddie Freeman.
The Dodgers manufactured another run the next inning with a pair of singles, an error by Mets first baseman Jared Young, and a run-scoring double play.
As the Dodgers bullpen took over in the sixth, however, the game slipped away. Jack Dreyer walked two batters and recorded just one out in the sixth inning before Roberts replaced him with Evan Phillips.
In a 1-1 count, Phillips threw a sinker on the inside edge of the strike zone, and Taylor lifted it into the left-field stands for a go-ahead three-run homer. Phillips, who last week talked about rewiring his rehab mindset, has already surrendered four home runs in just seven outings.
A run-scoring passed ball from Dalton Rushing and Semien’s three-run blast in the seventh ultimately sealed the win for the Mets.
NEW YORK — Kyle Tucker’s first home run in nearly a month lifted the Dodgers to a 4-2 victory over the New York Mets on Friday night.
Starting pitcher Roki Sasaki held the Mets to just three hits, which included a solo homer from Luis Roberts Jr. that accounted for the only run Sasaki surrendered. He threw seven innings for the third time this season.
The extra velocity that Sasaki mustered in his last start against the New York Yankees — when he surpassed 101 mph in a regular season game for the first time in his MLB career — didn’t make an encore against the Mets (43-61).
Instead, Sasaki leaned on his splitter, throwing it 47% of the time, compared to his season average of 26%.
The Dodgers tied the score 1-1 in the fourth inning. Freddie Freeman, who finished with three hits, led with a single. Mookie Betts matched him, then Miguel Rojas stayed back on a changeup and sent it to deep right field for a sacrifice fly.
The Dodgers twice fell victim to Mets right fielder Carson Benge’s arm in the fifth and sixth. First, Shohei Ohtani was thrown out trying to stretch a double into a triple after a relay throw by Francisco Lindor. Benge threw out Freeman at the plate in the sixth on a Rojas popout to right.
Kyle Tucker follows through on a two-run home run for the Dodgers in the eighth inning of a 4-2 win Friday night over the New York Mets.
(Jim McIsaac / Getty Images)
In the seventh, the Dodgers (66-38) started to build another rally. Dalton Rushing laid down a bunt with runners on the corners. But it bounced right to pitcher Brooks Raley, who flipped the ball to the plate to eventually snare Tucker in a rundown between third and home.
On the next at-bat, Ohtani drove in Teoscar Hernández from third on a sacrifice fly to center field.
Tucker’s two-run homer in the eighth provided the Dodgers some insurance they would end up using when Evan Phillips gave up a solo homer to Francisco Alvarez in the bottom of the inning. It was Tucker’s first home run since June 27.
Injury updates
Right-hander Tyler Glasnow (back spasms) has progressed to the live batting practice phase of his rehab progression, manager Dave Roberts said. It’s a promising sign for a pitcher who twice had to shut down throwing early in his rehab when he aggravated the injury.
Closer Edwin Díaz (arthroscopic elbow surgery) came out well from throwing on back-to-back days in a triple A rehab assignment.
“We talked about him flying across the country; doesn’t make a lot of sense,” Roberts said. “So I think he’s supposed to pitch on Sunday, and then if that goes well, he should be back with us when we get back on Tuesday.”
The Dodgers begin a six-game homestand Tuesday, against the Seattle Mariners and Boston Red Sox.
Catcher Will Smith’s timeline to return from a neck injury remains unclear, after the Dodgers temporarily shut him down from baseball activities, beginning around the All-Star break.
“He’s pain free,” Roberts. “He’s getting back into being more active.”
Hunter Dobbins scattered six hits over six innings, JJ Wetherholt hit a home run in the sixth and the St. Louis Cardinals held on for a 1-0 victory over the Angels on Wednesday at Angel Stadium.
Dobbins, recalled from triple-A Memphis for Wednesday’s start, struck out five and walked none to help St. Louis snap a four-game losing streak and end the Angels’ three-game win streak.
Luis Gastelum threw a scoreless seventh, George Soriano had a 1-2-3 eighth and closer Riley O’Brien struck out Oswald Peraza with an 80-mph sweeper and Josh Lowe with a 98-mph sinker with two on in the ninth for his 26th save.
Dobbins (2-1) escaped a first-and-third, two-out jam in the second, a two-on, one-out jam in the third and a first-and-third, two-out jam in the fourth.
That inning ended with Cardinals third baseman Blaze Jordan reaching into the third-base dugout to snag Tyler Heineman’s popup.
Angels starter Reid Detmers (3-7), expected to be a top target of contenders looking to acquire starting pitching before the Aug. 3 trade deadline, blanked the Cardinals on one hit through five innings despite walking two to open the fifth.
The left-hander escaped the fifth with the help of third baseman Vaughn Grissom, who made a backhand diving stop of José Fermín’s grounder, scrambled to the bag for a forceout and threw to first to complete a double play.
Jordan struck out to end the inning.
But with one out in the sixth inning, Detmers (3-7) left a fastball up to Wetherholt, who lined his 15th homer of the season over the wall in center field to break the tie and knock Detmers out of the game.
Up next: Cardinals RHP Michael McGreevy (4-7, 2.92 ERA) will oppose Arizona RHP Brandon Pfaadt (4-1, 4.58 ERA) Thursday night in St. Louis. For the Angels, RHP Grayson Rodriguez (3-3, 8.23 ERA) will face Giants RHP Logan Webb (5-7, 3.87 ERA) Friday night in San Francisco.
NEW YORK — Eliezer Alfonzo jumped on a first-pitch cutter, keeping his hands inside to send it into shallow center field.
Two weeks after making his major-league debut under tragic circumstances, Alfonzo recorded his first major-league hit.
It was a heartwarming moment early in the Dodgers’ 2-1 loss Sunday to the Yankees. By dropping the series finale, the second game of a doubleheader Sunday at Yankee Stadium, the Dodgers settled for a series win instead of sweep at Yankee Stadium.
With starting catcher Will Smith sidelined indefinitely because of a neck injury, Alfonzo has served as the backup to catcher Dalton Rushing for the past two weeks.
The morning of Alfonzo’s debut, his sister and stepmother, who had been missing since two powerful earthquakes devastated Venezuela last month, were found dead. Alfonzo still played, honoring them on the field.
Alfonzo’s familiarity with the Dodgers pitching staff from the time he spent on the major-league side in spring training this year has helped provide some measure of stability in Smith’s absence. But he had yet to contribute on the offensive side, going 0 for 9.
Until the third inning of Game 2 Sunday.
Alfonzo rounded first base, kissed his closed right hand and pointed to the sky. Then he turned to the visitors dugout, grinned and lifted both fists above his head.
His teammates made sure to get the ball back. And Teoscar Hernández held it up to show him.
Alfonzo’s two-out single didn’t start a rally. But in the bottom of the fourth, he helped squash one.
Dodgers right-hander Edgardo Henriquez’s command was faltering, to the tune of back-to-back walks and a wild pitch. Then with runners on second and third, he induced José Caballero to hit a grounder to third baseman Max Muncy.
Anthony Volpe, the Yankees’ baserunner on third, took off on contact. Muncy threw on the run to Alfonzo, who was set up on the inside of the basepath. Alfonzo made a diving tag on Volpe to prevent a run.
Throwing a bullpen game, the Dodgers (63-37) used seven pitchers, who combined to limit the Yankees (55-44) to two runs through eight innings. Brock Stewart had a standout performance, entering the fifth with no outs and the bases loaded and retiring three straight batters. He then threw a clean sixth. Alex Vesia struck out the side in the seventh.
Utility man Tommy Edman’s pinch-hit homer in the eighth tied the score. But the next inning, Yankees star Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a solo homer off Evan Phillips.
