The Dodgers trailed in every game and faced an opponent that batted a whopping 44 times with runners in scoring position, but they still managed to sweep the Tigers anyway in a three-game weekend series full of pomp and circumstance at Dodger Stadium.
Coupled with the two wins in Tokyo, the Dodgers are now 5-0 for only the fifth time in franchise history, and for the first time since 1981.
There was a lot going on at Dodger Stadium during this series, including a long pregame introduction before the home opener, completed by Ice Cube driving the World Series championship trophy onto the field. Friday was the ring ceremony, which was 45 minutes long and chock full of emotion.
Detroit kept threatening with runners on pace, and batted 20 times with runners in scoring position in the first game alone, but had no hits in those situations. For the series, the Tigers were just 4-for-32 with 10 walks and two sacrifice flies (.125/.318/.188) with runners in scoring position.
Starters Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto got through five inning innings, though Snell had more walks than strikeouts. Roki Sasaki only recorded five outs during his Dodger Stadium debut on Saturday, as control issues plagued him again.
Sasaki has needed 117 pitches to get through his first 4⅔ major league innings, and nine walks against only five strikeouts is no way to make a living.
“Roki throughout his entire career has been a command guy. He doesn’t walk guys, he fills up strike zones. Right now where he’s at, he’s in new surroundings. He wants to impress, he wants to pitch well. He’s going out there competing, and right now it’s just not syncing up,” manager Dave Roberts said Saturday night. “This is a process. He’s a young player, and this is his first delve into Major League Baseball. We’re going to keep getting better, and go back to work, and get ready for his start in Philadelphia.”
The way the rotation lines up, Sasaki is in line to start next Saturday against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.
The Dodgers used six different relievers to clean up the final 22 outs after Sasaki’s early exit, everyone in the bullpen except Tanner Scott and Alex Vesia, who each pitched in the first two games of the series. Dodgers relievers on Saturday combined for 11 strikeouts and no walks in 7⅓ innings, and allowed just one run.
The bullpen during the series allowed five earned runs in 16⅔ innings with only five walks against 24 strikeouts, the latter representing 37.5 percent of batters faced.
Seven Dodgers relievers pitched exactly twice during the series, and Jack Dreyer pitched once, getting four outs on Saturday, including a strikeout to strand two runners who got on base against Sasaki in the second inning. Given that the Dodgers are off both Sunday and Thursday surrounding the series against the Braves, the Dodgers can be similary aggressive in relief choices when facing Atlanta, if needed.
While the bullpen was key in securing the Dodgers sweep, it also helped that the Dodgers offense gave the pitching staff a larger margin of error, scoring 20 runs during the three-game series.
The Dodgers batted only 17 times with runners in scoring position, but made the most of it, going 6-for-15 (.400/.471/1.000) with three doubles, an intentional walk, a hit by pitch, and game-changing home runs by Teoscar Hernández and Mookie Betts, the latter a walk-off blast.
The Dodgers have homered exactly three times in each of their last four games, the sixth time they’ve had such a streak at least that long. The team record for consecutive games with three or more home runs is five games, from August 11-16, 2019.
Up next
Atlanta comes to town next, beginning with former Dodgers first-round draft pick Grant Holmes starting the series opener Monday night at Dodger Stadium. Tyler Glasnow makes his 2025 debut on Monday, and will be followed in the series by Dustin May on Tuesday and Blake Snell on Wednesday.
Expect to see Teoscar Hernández batting third with Freddie Freeman hitting cleanup on Tuesday against left-hander Chris Sale, the second 2024 Cy Young Award winner the Dodgers will face on this homestand.
