The chasm between the Freeway Series rivals was on display in the Dodgers’ 9-2 win against the Angels at Dodger Stadium on Saturday night.
The bottom of the first inning took so long that Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto resorted to throwing a ball against the back of the dugout to stay warm.
The one-run lead the Angels had jumped out to in the top of the inning — when a leaping center fielder Andy Pages couldn’t quite reel in Oswald Peraza’s deep line drive for an RBI triple — was long forgotten after the Dodgers rallied for nine runs in the first.
It was the most runs the Dodgers scored in a single inning in nearly five years, matching their seventh-inning rally against the Nationals on July 2, 2021.
The Dodgers helped themselves with a show of power. Pages drove in the first two runs by crushing a center-cut changeup from Angels starting pitcher Jack Kochanowicz over the left-field wall.
Judging by his stroll out of the batter’s box, Pages seemed to know it was a homer on contact.
The ball had so much loft that reliever Blake Treinen parked under it in the bullpen and caught it with his hat. His fellow relievers mobbed him in an impromptu mosh pit.
Later in the same inning, after the lineup turned over, Shohei Ohtani also notched a two-run homer, for his second hit. In between, rookie Ryan Ward hit a two-run double off the wall.
The Dodgers brought 12 batters to the plate and recorded six hits in a row — seven total.
The Angels’ shoddy defense exacerbated the scoring spree. They had a chance to get out of it just four runs into the rally.
Kochanowicz had faced eight hitters and only recorded one out when Angels manager Kurt Suzuki turned to his bullpen.
Veteran left-hander Brent Suter jogged in with the bases loaded. Immediately, Suter got Alex Freeland to hit a ground ball to shortstop Zach Neto, for what should have been an inning-ending double play.
Instead, Neto’s throw across his body sailed past second and into foul territory on the other side of the diamond. By the time Angels right fielder Jo Adell collected the ball and threw to the cutoff man, three runs scored.
Ohtani was up next. And in a two-strike count, he stayed inside a sinker to launch his two-run blast to left-center field.
The Angels’ defense didn’t fare much better in the second, although Suter navigated a pair of misplays — Neto muffed a one-hopper up the middle, which was ruled a single, and third baseman Donovan Walton overthrew first on a chopper — to escape without the Dodgers extending their lead.
Yamamoto retired 22 straight en route to eight innings of two-hit ball.
By mid-game, both teams were putting in replacements. The Angels had time to chip away, but they didn’t score again until Neto’s solo homer off Dodgers reliever Jack Dreyer in the ninth inning.
The contrast was glaring.
Smith scratched
Dodgers catcher Will Smith was scratched from the lineup because of a stiff neck, manager Dave Roberts said. The issue “came out of nowhere,” Roberts said, pointing to a “bad night’s sleep or a bad pillow.”
“He was going to play two out of three [against the Angels] regardless,” Roberts said. “So it’s nice that we could kind of tap Dalton [Rushing] on the shoulder and get him in there.”
Roberts said he expects Smith will return to the lineup Sunday.
Injury update
Right-handed reliever Brock Stewart (left foot bone spur) is progressing after a setback a week and a half ago stymied his throwing progression.
The last time Stewart threw live batting practice, he aggravated the injury by running afterward. But throwing to hitters Saturday went better. He’s scheduled to throw one more live BP session before going out on a minor-league rehab assignment, Roberts said.
Roster moves
The Dodgers added right-hander Nick Frasso to the 40-man roster and transferred right-hander Tyler Glasnow (back spasms) to the 60-day injured list.
The team originally expected Glasnow to avoid the IL altogether. But his back issues have persisted. He remains shut down from throwing after a flare-up.
“He wants to get cranking again,” Roberts said, “but the doctors just aren’t allowing it and the body is not allowing for it right now.”
The Dodgers also traded left-hander Antoine Kelly, who they signed to a minor-league deal in November, to the Cubs.
The post Dodgers go on scoring spree before Yoshinobu Yamamoto shuts down Angels appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
