LOS ANGELES – The Dodgers and Nationals combined for eight home runs as Washington defeated the Dodgers 7-3 on Saturday night at Dodger Stadium in front of the largest crowd of the season, 54,154 fans.
It was Ice Cube bobblehead night during the home run derby, which was in full display by both teams in Los Angeles. The Nationals launched five home runs off the Dodgers’ pitching staff. Meanwhile, the top of the Dodgers’ lineup struggled, with Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman going just 1-for-12 and striking out six times.
The first three innings of the game went scoreless, but in the fourth inning, the Nationals’ offense sparked to life. James Wood and Luis Garcia Jr. hit back-to-back home runs, giving Washington an early lead. Wood crushed a sinker from May, launching the ball 451 feet over the center field wall. He is currently tied for sixth overall in home runs this season with Pete Crow-Armstrong from the Chicago Cubs, both having hit 21 home runs. Garcia wasted no time, hitting the first pitch sinker from May, sending it 414 feet to center field. May leads the Dodgers’ pitching staff with 11 home runs allowed this season.
May, 27, in his 14th start of the season, May has struggled throughout the year to keep the baseball in the stadium. The fifth inning proved to be challenging as he found himself in trouble with the bases loaded and one out. However, he managed to avoid giving up any runs by striking out CJ Abrams and Garcia Jr. As he walked off the mound, he jumped and screamed with emotion, celebrating the moment.
May had an efficient night on the mound, pitching six innings while allowing five hits and three earned runs, and striking out five batters on just 84 pitches. In April, he surrendered only one home run over 27 and 1/3 innings. However, in May, across 28 and 1/3 innings, he gave up six home runs.
“The solo homers, they suck,” May said. “Going back-to-back is definitely something you don’t want to see.”
May takes great pride in being able to pitch every time his name is called, having secured the last spot in the pitching rotation. He has performed well this season, but he is making just enough mistakes that have resulted in his fifth loss of the year.
“I’m getting to the point where I would like for stuff to start trending in the right direction for a full outing,” May said.
After the fifth inning, the Dodgers’ offense started to heat up. Andy Pages hit his 16th home run of the season, marking his fourth homer in the last seven games. According to Dave Roberts, the best catcher in baseball, Will Smith, also contributed by hitting his ninth home run of the season off right-hander Jake Irvin in the sixth inning. Smith brought in the Dodgers’ second run of the game.
Teoscar Hernandez hit an opposite-field home run in the ninth inning, bringing the total to three runs for the Dodgers. Despite these three home runs, the offense had struggled throughout the game. Irvin kept challenging the Dodgers’ lineup, finishing with 5 ⅓ innings pitched, during which he allowed six hits and struck out seven batters.
“He was moving the ball around and made the right pitches when he needed to,” Pages said.
Freeman was dissatisfied after the game regarding his recent offensive production, stating that his slump is not due to his quad injury, which has been bothering him for the past two weeks.
“I can’t speak for everybody else, but I can speak for myself. I haven’t been very good for a while,” Freeman said.
Freeman noted that his swing has not been effective over the past six weeks, starting from when the Dodgers were in Arizona. He has recorded only five hits in his last nine games, causing his batting average to drop to .322. Currently, he has nine home runs and 41 runs batted in. Notably, Freeman has not hit a home run in June; his last home run was on May 11, which was Mother’s Day, in Arizona.
“It’s been a little bit of a grind for us the last few weeks,” Freeman said. “We all believe in ourselves, it’s obviously a little frustrating, but we’ll get going.”
Ohtani is experiencing a situation similar to Freeman’s, as he has not recorded a hit in three games since making his pitching debut on Monday against the Padres. He is scheduled to start again on Sunday and may pitch for more than one inning, according to Roberts. Depending on Ohtani’s command and pitch count, Roberts may decide to allow him to pitch longer than in his previous performance.
Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Los Angeles Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani (17) flies out to center during the first inning against against the Washington Nationals at Dodger Stadium.
The Nationals continued to score as left-hander Jack Dreyer came in to relieve May, pitching one inning and allowing two runs on two hits. Keibert Ruiz led off the seventh inning with a ground-rule double, and CJ Abrams followed by hitting the first pitch he saw from Dreyer—a slider clocked at 87 mph—over the center field fence for a home run that traveled 401 feet. The Nationals weren’t finished yet; in the eighth inning, right-hander Lou Trivino took the mound for the Dodgers and gave up a solo home run to Nathaniel Lowe. This was Lowe’s second home run of the night and his 12th of the season.
Ruiz, 26, played for the Dodgers for two seasons, beginning in 2020. He was later traded to the Nationals as part of the deal that brought Max Scherzer and Trea Turner to Los Angeles. In his recent game, Ruiz went 3-for-3, hitting two doubles and a single while driving in one run. Currently, he is batting .253 with two home runs and 24 runs batted in.
The Dodgers have played 20 games in 21 days this month, winning 11 of them. While they have been strong at home, boasting a record of 29-14 this season, they have faced challenges on the road with a record of 18-17. The team has one more game left in this home stand before taking an off day on Monday. After that, they will travel to Colorado to kick off a three-game series, followed by a trip to Kansas City next weekend.
Ohtani will make his second start on Sunday, while the Nationals will counter with right-hander Michael Soroka (3-5, 5.06 ERA) to win the weekend series.