The Dodgers have kept rolling through September, even if the path wasn’t perfectly smooth. A two-game stumble against the Miami Marlins briefly slowed them down, but they’ve answered with a pair of wins over the Cincinnati Reds in the first two games of a four-game series.
The tone for the week has been set by the rotation. After Tarik Skubal carved through Cincinnati for seven innings on Monday, Yoshinobu Yamamoto followed with a scoreless seven-inning outing on Tuesday, giving up only one hit while striking out seven and working around a pair of leadoff walks. Over his last two starts, both against the Reds, Yamamoto has allowed just one run across 14 innings with 17 strikeouts and only three walks.
He also did something important early in the game: after walking his first two batters, he shut Cincinnati down. The Reds went just 1-for-21 against him, and Sonja Chen of MLB.com noted that Yamamoto was able to borrow from Skubal’s approach the night before.
Yamamoto said he used that to his advantage.
“That kind of encouraged me to be aggressive and attack the hitters,” Yamamoto said through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda.
With the pitching staff doing its job against Cincinnati, Blake Snell now gets the next crack at keeping that run going.
On the other side, Teoscar Hernández has been the one making the damage count. He has launched a pair of two-run homers at Great American Ball Park, and both swings helped put the games out of reach.
Hernández looks to be back in the groove Dodgers fans saw during spring training, and Maddie Lee of the Los Angeles Times reported that his recent surge traces back to work with hitting coach Aaron Bates. Bates helped him add a “twister tap” in his stride to the ball.
“It was a great meeting we had,” Bates said. “We all talked about it, and then he felt comfortable enough to do it, and then the rest is to his credit. He’s just been who he is.”
Bates also explained why the adjustment matters.
“When Teo’s hips are loose that way, and his front leg looks like an Elvis knee, it’s a good sign for us,” Bates said. “Because that means that he can open and close it without his upper body going with it.”
As for Shohei Ohtani, the Dodgers are still waiting on their everyday centerpiece to return. Josue De Paula has handled some of the DH duties in limited action and has gone .143/.368/.429 over 19 plate appearances while Ohtani works through multiple nagging issues.
There is at least a little progress there. Jack Harris of the California Post reported that Ohtani took batting practice on Monday, and the Dodgers remain hopeful he can come off the injured list before the regular season ends.
In Other News...
Dodgers Just Made A Bullpen Move That Could Sting Fans Too
The Dodgers got another piece back in the bullpen mix by activating left-hander Kris Bubic off the 60-day injured list and adding him to both the 28- and 40-man rosters. Bubic, who came over from the Royals at the trade deadline, is expected to give Los Angeles a left-handed relief option as it continues sorting through the back end of its staff.
To clear space, right-hander Paul Gervase was optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City and outfielder Ryan Ward was designated for assignment. The roster shuffle fits the kind of August management the Dodgers have leaned on all year, but the move also comes with the usual cost of squeezing out a depth piece to make room for a pitcher the club clearly wants available now. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Suddenly Have A Real Josue De Paula Dilemma
Josue De Paula keeps giving the Dodgers another reason to think hard about the future. The top prospect homered against the Miami Marlins, a reminder that the 19-year-old has the kind of power and plate discipline that has drawn comparisons inside the organization to past Dodgers rookie-of-the-year types, including Mike Piazza. For a club that always seems to be balancing present contention with the next wave, De Paulas rise is becoming harder to ignore.
The timing, though, is what makes this interesting. Los Angeles also has to figure out where he fits once Shohei Ohtani comes off the injured list, and that sort of roster puzzle tends to say as much about a prospect as any scouting report does. De Paula is forcing the issue now, and the Dodgers may soon have to decide whether his bat is ready for a bigger stage or whether his path has to wait behind an even larger return. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Just Got An Opening They Desperately Needed In The NL Race
The Dodgers have spent much of the late-season stretch juggling injuries to Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman while trying to kick-start an offense that has gone quiet since Aug. 1. Even with those issues lingering, there is still meaningful ground left to cover in the NL race, and with 11 games to go, Los Angeles remains in position to chase home-field advantage if it can stack enough wins down the stretch.
The latest break in that pursuit comes from San Francisco, where the Giants just lost Rafael Devers for the season. Devers had given them a needed lift after the All-Star break, so his absence changes the look of a division schedule that still includes multiple meetings between the Dodgers and Giants. For a Los Angeles club trying to survive its own health concerns and tighten up its postseason positioning, the timing could hardly be better. [Read more 🡒]