The Dodgers continue to get outstanding starting pitching. After, Yoshi Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow flirted with no hitters, on the 60th anniversary of Sandy Koufax’s perfecto, Emmet Sheehan pitched 5.0 perfect innings before Kyle Karros wrecked it with a leadoff single in the 6th. Yanquiel Fernández followed with a single that dropped just in front of Michael Conforto. Sure it fell between Conforto, Muncy, and Betts, but it was Conforto’s ball and he needed to take charge. A flair single from Tyler Freeman plated Karros and broke up the shutout. Emmet got out of the 6th without any further runs, and pitched a scoreless 7th, walking 1, but striking out the side.
If you're an outfielder, you can't pull up on this. That's a brutal play for a third baseman. pic.twitter.com/TSVbqR0pWq
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) September 10, 2025
Emmet Sheehan's last 4 starts:
24.2 IP
32 K
72 whiffs ‼️Untouchable pic.twitter.com/6Va7asZ8GO
— Blake Harris (@BlakeHHarris) September 10, 2025
For the 7.0 innings he pitched on the night, Sheehan allowed the 1 run, on 3 hits, 1 BB, and 9 Ks.
Alex Vesia pitched a perfect 8th inning with 2 Ks in his return from the IL. Kirby Yates gave up his inevitable HR and double in the 9th. He is certainly running out of time to make the playoff roster, if he hasn’t already run out of said time.
The offense got huge help from Teoscar Hernández with a pair of solo HRs (24) and a single. Mookie Betts continued to shine with his 4th consecutive 2 RBI night. He had a 2-run HR and ad double. His OPS is now up to .721. In his last 31 games, 137 PA, and 123 AB, Mookie is slashing .333/.394/.537/.931, 6 HR, 5 doubles, and 1 triple. He had more BB (12) than K (8).
The Dodgers got a 4th HR from Freddie. They are still very reliant on the HR, so I am not going to get overly excited about a win over Germán Márquez and the lowly Colorado Rockies.
The Dodgers 1st run came on a Will Smith double, he moved to 3rd on a Max Muncy deep fly to CF, and scored on a WP. In the 5th, the Dodgers used an Andy Pages single, move to 2nd on a Miggy Ro fly out, and scored on a Shohei Ohtani single. The Dodgers scored 5 on the long ball, 1 on a WP, and manufactured a run.
The Dodgers 6 man rotation:
- Yoshinobu Yamamoto – 2.72 ERA
- Blake Snell – 3.19 ERA
- Tyler Glasnow – 3.21 ERA
- Clayton Kershaw – 3.27 ERA
- Emmet Sheehan – 3.32 ERA
- Shohei Ohtani – 3.75 ERA
Dodgers starting pitchers over the last 5 games:
Shohei Ohtani: 3.2 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 5 K
Yoshinobu Yamamoto: 8.2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 10 K
Clayton Kershaw: 5.2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 8 K
Tyler Glasnow: 7 IP, 0 H, 1 ER, 11 K
Emmet Sheehan: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 9 KThat's a combined ERA of 1.41.
— Noah Camras (@noahcamras) September 10, 2025
The Dodgers look for the sweep when they send Blake Snell out to face Kyle Freeland in the season finale with Colorado.
Injury updates:
Dave Roberts said Tommy Edman is set to be activated tomorrow.
Dalton Rushing will go on a rehab assignment tomorrow. They plan on activating him sometime next week.
Brock Stewart is scheduled for a live bullpen session on Friday before beginning a rehab…
— Dodgers Tailgate (@DodgersTailgate) September 10, 2025
MiLB GAME SUMMARY REPORTS
Sacramento River Cats (San Francisco) 6 – OKC Comets 4
Roki Sasaki showed more of what he is capable of in this game. In his first four innings, he allowed one hit, and 2 walks, but did not give up a run. He struck out 8 River Cats. His 4-seamer hit 100 and was consistently 99+. In the 5th, he ran out of gas. Walk, single, walk, ground out, sac fly, double, HBP, and Nick Frasso came in to relieve Roki. Frasso struck out Marco Luciano to end the inning.
Roki Sasaki finishes with 8 strikeouts in 4.2 innings tonight! pic.twitter.com/45BtWXxzgO
— Oklahoma City Comets (@OKC_comets) September 10, 2025
Roki Sasaki has thrown 5 pitches so far over 100 MPH Tonight:
100.6 MPH
100.4 MPH
100.2 MPH
100.0 MPH
100.0 MPHpic.twitter.com/rMpwPbwkFm— Running From The OPS (@OPS_BASEBALL) September 9, 2025
OKC jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the 1st inning with an Esteury Ruiz single and a José Ramos HR (5).
Luken Baker hit a solo HR (4) in the 3rd. In the 4th, the 4th run scored when Frank Rodriguez drew a BB, and scored on an Esteury Ruiz triple (4) for a 4-0 lead.
Kyle Hurt (1.2 IP) and Will Klein (1.1 IP) threw 3.0 scoreless innings. OKC went into the 9th with a 4-3 lead and asked Bobby Miller to preserve the victory. Miller gave up 3 runs on 3 hits and 2 BB, for the blown save and loss.
Kyle Hurt just turned in another successful rehab outing for AAA OKC.
1.2IP | 1H | 0R | 3Ks | 1BBTonight was Hurt's 3rd rehab outing, and he's given up 1 run, which happened in his 1st outing. Hurt touched 98.5, and did a good job throwing strikes with his fastball, and his… pic.twitter.com/Ar6aE7kpQJ
— Dodgers Daily (@dodger_daily) September 10, 2025
Bobby Miller had another rough outing for AAA OKC. He came in the top of the 9th in a save situation with the Comets leading 4-3 and gave up 3 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks.
Gotta feel for the dude at this point, it's tough to watch. Rootin' for this guy to get things squared… pic.twitter.com/4qukEe3rG2
— Dodgers Daily (@dodger_daily) September 10, 2025
- Esteury Ruiz – 4-5, 1 run, 1 RBI
- Alex Freeland – 2-4
Esteury Ruiz stealing bases and records! 🏃
Ruiz etches his name in history setting the single-season stolen base record during the Bricktown era! pic.twitter.com/m7y1JhRygl
— Oklahoma City Comets (@OKC_comets) September 10, 2025
Tulsa Drillers 4 – Arkansas Travelers (Seattle) 3 – 13 innings
Roque Gutierrez started for Tulsa in a crucial final week series against the Arkansas Travelers. He allowed a 3rd inning solo HR in 4.2 IP. He allowed 6 hits, but only 1 BB to go with 3 K.
Three relievers followed and shut down Arkansas into the 9th.
Tulsa was shut out until James Tibbs III got a lead off HR in the 8th tying the score at 1-1.
Entering today, in 30 games since being acquired: .241/.386/.420, 5 HR, and a whopping 17 BB% (would lead the Texas League if qualified). His 133 wRC+ is just about at the 135 mark (and will likely reach it after tonight) he had at High-A before being in the Devers trade. https://t.co/C3msKRojlZ
— Future Dodgers (@FutureDodgers) September 10, 2025
With Christian Suarez on the bump in the 9th, he got two quick outs. He followed that with 3 successive BB and the third walk included a WP on ball 4 allowing the go-ahead run to score.
Tulsa scored the tying run in the 9th after Taylor Young singled, and moved to 3rd on an errant pick off throw. He scored on a WP and the game went into extra innings.
Neither team scored in the 10th and 11th, and both teams scored in the 12th. Carson Hobbs pitched two scoreless innings, and gave way to Jorge Benitez in the 12th. With a placed runner on 2nd, Benitez proceeded to walk the bases loaded with nobody out. He gave up the go ahead single for 1. He got a 3-2-3 DP and a pop out to end the inning.
Zach Ehrhard was the placed runner on 2nd. Josue De Paula and JT III struck out, but Chris Newell singled to score Ehrhard for the tying run.
Kelvin Bautista pitched a scoreless 13th, setting the stage for a walk off win. With Griffin Lockwood-Powell the placed runner at 2nd, Kole Myers was HBP to put 2 runners on. Taylor Young hit into a force out, and Tulsa had runners on 1st and 3rd. Sean McLain hit a one out single to score GLP for the walk off win.
The win kept Tulsa 2.0 games up on the Wichita Wind Surge (Minnesota) with 5 games to play for the final playoff spot.
In his first AA game, Josue De Paula went 0-5 with a BB and 2 K.
- Yeiner Fernandez – 3-6
- James Tibbs III – 2-5, 1 BB, 1 run, 1 RBI, HR (6)
- Taylor Young – 2-6, 1 run, double (21), SB (40)
- Kole Myers – double (5)
Inland Empire 66ers (LAA) 5 – Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 4
Thanks to a 41-25 1st half record, Rancho finished ahead of Visalia by 6.0 games to win the first half and guarantee a spot in the playoffs. The Quakes were not nearly as good in the 2nd half (29-37). Going into the playoffs, the Quakes certainly have their share of prospects: Emil Morales, SS (No. 7); Ching-Hsien Ko, OF (No. 10); Chase Harlan, 3B (No. 19); Hyun-Seok Jang, RHP (No. 22); Jakob Wright, LHP (No. 29).
20 year old RHSP, Marlon Nieves started the game. He allowed 3 singles and 2 doubles in the 2nd inning for 3 runs.
Niko Perez hit a grand slam HR in the 3rd for a brief 4-3 lead.
In the 4th, Nieves allowed a single and triple for the tying run.
IE scored the go-ahead run in the 7th. A BB, SB, and single scored the eventual winning run.
RC had 5 hits with the Perez HR the sole run producer. Oswaldo Osorio had a double (1). No RC hitter had more than 1 hit. The Quakes also got 8 BB, but the team was 1-9 wRISP.
RC will try to tie up the series on Thursday at home. They will play a 3rd game if necessary on Friday, also at home.
Playoffs SP’s —
Yamamoto
Glasnow
Snell
Kershaw/Sheehan (piggyback)
Playoffs Closer —
Ohtani
No way they use Ohtani as a closer, especially since he is the DH.
Wayne – this might explain why using Shohei outta the Pen might be difficult.
https://www.mlb.com/news/evaluating-dodgers-bullpen-options-for-2025-home-stretch?partnerID=mlbapp-iOS_article-share
Interesting article Watford. Thanks
FWIW – According to dodgersnation.com, the FO has talked of Shohei pitching in relief during the playoffs.
That link took me to the front page of Dodgers/MLB. Are you referring to the article about Sasaki?
If he’s ready, and after 90 pitches, some at triple digits, I think he is. Looking forward it’s possible he’s on the post season roster and in the bullpen. Hope he can locate that cheese.
Frankly I’d like to see Ohtani focus on hitting. For the rest of this year anyway. It probably won’t happen that way. If Shohei wants to pitch, Shohei is going to pitch.
The Dodgers have done what good teams are supposed to do; beat a last place club. And last night? Good thing it wasn’t close, right? Yates. ERA now 4.82.
Are the Dodgers out of their funk? We won’t know until this weekend.
Try this
https://www.mlb.com/news/evaluating-dodgers-bullpen-options-for-2025-home-stretch?adobe_mc=TS%3D1757511945%7CMCMID%3D69520390332929998989154891264461300867%7CMCORGID%3DA65F776A5245B01B0A490D44@AdobeOrg&affiliateId=mlbapp-ios_webview_news-index&rsid=mlbios.at.bat.new.implementation
1st:
Approximately 750 at-bats
2nd:
Approximately 733 at-bats
3rd:
Approximately 714 at-bats
4th:
Approximately 698 at-bats
5th:
Approximately 681 at-bats
At bats per spot in the order. AI gave me this information.
One could ask: shouldn’t a slugger on a first place team with an OPS over 1.000 have more than 91 RBI’s at this point in the season?
He had 130 last year. He’s OPSn .955 with RISP. 118 out 651 PA WRISP. 18% of his at bats he has runners in scoring position. Is that good? Would it improve from the 2 or 3 hole?
Ohtani had a 9.2 oWAR last year. The best in his career. Will we ever see that again? I doubt it.
So the answer to where to bat Ohtani, using all the information available obviously is – wherever Ohtani wants to bat.
Idk if the stats bear it out but Ohtani just doesn’t inspire anyone with his abs with runners on. I would rather c Mookie, freeman, smith, Muncy, almost anyone wrisp. U don’t have to throw strikes to get him out. He is definitely a strikeout candidate. Of course I guess a strikeout is preferred over a dp ball. He should be well over 100 rbi. He has had a ton of chances.
I think the reason the ba are down across the board is the rp. Everyone has a guy out of the bullpen throwing a hundred. It is tougher to hit in today’s game. Then, when facing the Dodgers every team seems to focus.
Career stats show Mookie is much more suited to be the leadoff hitter and has his best stats in that role.
That is how I see it too. I would have done it just to change things up. But honestly, does it really matter?
In the long run I think it would and Ohtani would not have to be rushed when he did pitch to get ready to hit.
I’m actually quite proud of this group. After that horrible loss Sat night in Baltimore, they’ve come back and won 3 in a row, as if Saturday never happened.
Keep it up tonight, and sweep this last place team with Blake Snell (and his 100 pitches thru 5). Then on to sf
Definitely not excited about beating the Rockies twice. Let’s see what they do tonight against a competitive pitcher, Freeland, and the next 3 games against SF.
i can’t believe Yates is still on the team, he’s a grease fire,
I think a reason the Dodgers still have Conforto on the roster is that is demonstrates their commitment to a player who signs a 1-yr deal–i.e., it builds the team’s credibility for the guy they want to sign.
I have a ton of love and respect for Kershaw, but having him pitch in the playoffs seems like a bas idea. His recent outing in Pittsburgh is, unfortunately, what he’s capable of– a first inning meltdown. His last two playoff appearance (2022 and 2023) did not go well. People tell me this is a different, healthier Kersh. I disagree. This is an older Kershaw who arm/body can betray him, with a razor thin margin of error given 90 MPH fastball.
Mookie is reminding us that he is the true spark plug of this team.
I see Kershaw having a role in the playoff bullpen; one time through, max role and maybe lower leverage. Maybe piggybacked with Ohtani.
Ohtani is just too good to not consider pitching him at all.
If they want to eliminate the possibility of losing his bat if he doesn’t close the gamed, then start him on the mound with CK to follow.
I like the long, hard throwing Ohtani followed by the crafty, softer throwing LHP in CK.
The bullpen needs help which means starters filling relief roles, Sheehan included.
Consider:
Starters – Yamamoto, Glasnow, Snell
Starters / Relief roles – Sheehan, Kershaw and Ohtani
Relief pitchers – Banda, Dreyer, Vesia, Worbs,
That’s 10 pitchers.
You then have 4 guys competing for the remaining 3 spots among Kopech, Henriquez, Scott and Yates.
But maybe we get an extra pitcher. If Shohei Ohtani qualifies as a two-way player, he would not count against the 13-pitcher limit on a playoff roster. This would essentially allow a team to carry an extra pitcher.
That could mean all the current roster pitchers make the 26 man, including Yates, who I could do without, if Ohtani doesn’t count as one of the 13.
I have a hard time believing that CK and Ohtani have no role on the bump in the playoffs. With a little creativity, they can provide good innings.
Sheehan contributed to a bit of history last night for the Rockies. It was the first time in franchise history that the Rockies were no-hit through 5 innings in back to back games. Rangers signed Solano and Cal Quantrill to minor league deals. Trea Turner and his league leading .305 BA to the IL for 10 days. Freddie, Smith and Frelick of the Brewers have a chance to catch him while he is out. Anthony Rizzo is retiring, and will do so as a Cub.
Conforto is proof that the Dodgers should avoid former Giants in free agency. They haven’t had much luck when they have done that.
Tried to post a pic of Tatis robbing a home run. Didn’t work. But superimpose that effort on the ball Pages gave up on? Meh, maybe not, but, what an effort it would have been.
Tommy Edman due back today. The presumed move is that Justin Dean is already back in OKC.
Edman activated, Dean sent to OKC.
The Dodgers will be sending 3 position players and 5 pitchers to the Arizona Fall League (AFL). It is going to be fun to watch Kendall George against better pitching to see if he can adjust.
Arizona Fall League is 30 games from October 6 and ending November 12. The Dodgers will be on the Glendale Desert Dogs with Blue Jays, Braves, Cardinals, and White Sox.
The other AFL teams:
RIP Charlie Kirk, shot and killed in Utah today. A voice of reason in a time of darkness. 31 years old.
Tragic!!!
Really struck a chord with me, I loved watching him interact with college students. He was a really intelligent guy.
One of a kind. Created a great movement and the king of civil discourse.
Kyle Freeland has pitched much better of late. His last outing was an 8 inning 10 K performance over the Padres at Coors. LA needs to attack early and do not let him settle in. 5-11 with a 4.80 ERA against LA in his career. He has given up 21 homers to LA in 135 innings. He is 1-6 in his career at Dodger Stadium.
Starters announced for Giants series, Yoshi, Kersh, Glasnow. Cal Raliegh is close to tying the record for the most homers in a season by a switch-hitter, held by Badger’s all-time favorite player, Mickey Mantle, set in 1961 when the Mick hit 54 homers during his chase of Ruth’s record with teammate, Roger Maris. Raliegh has 53 and needs one to tie, and two to set a new record.
Tonight’s line up: Snell pitching. Ohtani DH, Betts SS, Freeman 1B, Smith C, Teo RF, Edman CF, Rojas 2B, Pages LF, Kike 3B.
Pages should be in RF, not LF.
Talk to management. Their decision.