It was a real good news, bad news week for the Dodgers, who swept the lowly White Sox before getting thumped over the weekend by the first-place Astros.
The Dodgers saw a franchise icon reach an important milestone, but even that happened mere moments after losing their starting third baseman for at least six weeks.
Five Dodgers were selected to the National League All-Star roster, headed to Atlanta for the midsummer classic on July 15. Over the weekend the Dodgers also took part in the Midsommar classic, suffering their worst home loss in their 64 seasons at Dodger Stadium, part of a three-game sweep by the Astros.
But even though the Dodgers went 3-3, their divisional lead is the same as it was one week ago today.
Batter of the week
Catcher Will Smith was voted by fans to start the All-Star Game, and the National League leader in on-base percentage (.433), batting average (.332), and wRC+ (176) showed why this week by reaching base 13 times in his 18 trips to the plate, including a pair of home runs. Despite getting two days off, Smith still led the Dodgers during the week in hits, home runs, run scored, and walks.
Pitcher of the week
Dustin May has been healthy for the longest stretch of his major league career but results have been spotty this season. But on Thursday against Chicago he put it all together, taking a perfect game into the sixth inning and became the first Dodgers starting pitcher this season to pitch into the eighth inning, the longest start of his career. He struck out nine and his two runs allowed didn’t come until that final frame.
Week 16 results
3-3 record
23 runs scored (3.83 per game)
36 runs allowed (6.00 per game)
.306 pythagorean win percentage
Year to date
56-35 record
500 runs scored (5.49 per game)
423 runs allowed (4.65 per game)
.576 pythagorean win percentage (52-39)
Standing: 1st place in NL West, 7 games up on San Diego and San Francisco
Miscellany
Mr. 3,000: Clayton Kershaw on Wednesday struck out three against Chicago, giving him exactly 3,000 strikeouts in his career, only the 20th player in major league history to reach that milestone, and only the fourth left-handed pitcher to do so. Kershaw is the fifth player to strike out 3,000 with a single team.
“I would have much rather just gotten it done in the first [inning],” Kershaw said. “But looking back on it, with us winning the game, and my last pitch of the night being the strikeout, I don’t think I would change it now,”
Summer of George: Jason Alexander is a man of extremes. The 32-year-old right-hander has pitched twice at Dodger Stadium this season, and was on both ends of a game decided by 17 runs. While with the A’s on May 15, Alexander took one for the team by eating up seven outs in relief while giving up nine runs in a 19-2 rout by the Dodgers. Now with the Astros, Alexander on Friday pitched the final three innings in scoreless fashion to earn a save in the Dodgers’ most lopsided loss ever at Dodger Stadium.
Transactions
Tuesday: Reliever Michael Kopech was placed on the injured list, and Will Klein got an early return trip to the majors.
Thursday: Third baseman Max Muncy was placed on the injured list with a bone bruise in his left knee, and that he’ll miss roughly six weeks was unexpected good news after the gnarly nature of the injury the night before. Outfielder Esteury Ruiz was recalled from Oklahoma CIty.
Thursday: The Dodgers added some infield depth on the 40-man roster in claiming corner man CJ Alexander off waivers from the Yankees.
Friday: Veteran right-hander Luis García, who was designated for assignment on June 29, cleared waivers and was released.
Saturday: Right-hander Noah Davis got sent down after tying a Los Angeles Dodgers record 10 runs in a relief appearance, and Jack Little was called up as the fresh arm in the bullpen.
Sunday: Emmet Sheehan was called up to rejoin the rotation, and Little was optioned.
Game results
Week 16 batting
Player
AB
R
H
2B
HR
RBI
SB
BB
SO
PA
BA/OBP/SLG
OPS
Player
AB
R
H
2B
HR
RBI
SB
BB
SO
PA
BA/OBP/SLG
OPS
Smith
12
4
7
0
2
2
0
5
2
18
.583/.722/1.083
1.806
Betts
20
3
6
1
2
3
0
0
1
21
.300/.286/.650
.936
Pages
22
3
6
1
1
3
1
2
5
24
.273/.333/.455
.788
Rushing
9
0
3
1
0
1
0
0
1
9
.333/.333/.444
.778
Rojas
10
1
2
0
1
3
0
1
1
11
.200/.273/.500
.773
Conforto
19
3
4
0
1
4
0
1
4
20
.211/.250/.368
.618
Freeman
24
1
6
2
0
4
1
0
10
24
.250/.250/.333
.583
Ohtani
22
4
3
0
1
2
1
4
5
26
.136/.269/.273
.542
Edman
14
2
2
0
0
0
0
4
5
19
.143/.368/.143
.511
T. Hernández
14
1
3
0
0
1
0
0
3
14
.214/.214/.214
.429
Kim
13
0
2
0
0
0
1
1
4
14
.154/.214/.154
.368
Ruiz
6
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
3
6
.167/.167/.167
.333
Muncy
5
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
6
.000/.167/.000
.167
K. Hernández
9
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
9
.000/.000/.000
.000
Offense
199
23
45
5
8
23
4
19
47
221
.226/.299/.372
.671
Week 16 pitching
Pitcher
G
Record
IP
H
R
ER
BB
SO
ERA
WHIP
Pitcher
G
Record
IP
H
R
ER
BB
SO
ERA
WHIP
Ohtani
1
0-0
2.0
1
0
0
0
3
0.00
0.500
Yamamoto
1
1-0
7.0
3
1
1
1
8
1.29
0.571
Sheehan
1
0-0
5.0
5
1
1
1
4
1.80
1.200
May
1
1-0
7.0
4
2
2
1
9
2.57
0.714
Kershaw
1
0-0
6.0
9
4
4
1
3
6.00
1.667
Wrobleski
1
0-1
4.7
7
5
4
1
6
7.71
1.714
Casparius
1
0-1
3.0
9
6
6
0
3
18.00
3.000
Starters
7
2-2
34.7
38
19
18
5
36
4.67
1.240
Vesia
2
0-0
2.3
0
0
0
1
4
0.00
0.429
Little
1
0-0
1.0
0
0
0
0
1
0.00
0.000
Yates
1
0-0
1.0
0
0
0
0
2
0.00
0.000
Rojas
1
0-0
1.0
1
0
0
2
0
0.00
3.000
Dreyer
2
0-0
2.7
2
1
1
3
3
3.38
1.875
Trivino
3
0-0
2.7
1
1
1
0
1
3.38
0.375
Banda
3
0-0
4.0
3
2
2
1
3
4.50
1.000
Klein
2
1-1
1.7
2
1
1
1
3
5.40
1.800
Scott
2
0-0
1.7
3
2
2
1
3
10.80
2.400
Davis
1
0-0
1.3
6
10
10
3
3
67.50
6.750
Bullpen
18
1-1
19.3
18
17
17
12
23
7.91
1.552
Totals
25
3-3
54.0
56
36
35
17
59
5.83
1.352
Previous reviews: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10 | Week 11 | Week 12 | Week 13 | Week 14 | Week 15
Up next
The Dodgers hit the road to run the Ernie Riles gauntlet, taking on the Brewers in Milwaukee then the Giants in San Francisco, with Thursday’s off day in between ending a stretch of nine game days in a row.
Tyler Glasnow will return from the injured list to be slotted in to start on this road trip, and Dave Roberts said Sunday that it might be in the series finale against the Brewers, which would also give Dustin May extra rest after pitching into the eighth inning last Thursday.
Sunday’s game in San Francisco is exclusively televised on The Roku Channel. Stephen Nelson will call play by play alongside analyst Hunter Pence, with Kirsten Watson as the game reporter.
Week 17 schedule
Mon, Jul 7
Tue, Jul 8
Wed, Jul 9
Thu, Jul 10
Fri, Jul 11
Sat, Jul 12
Sun, Jul 13
Mon, Jul 7
Tue, Jul 8
Wed, Jul 9
Thu, Jul 10
Fri, Jul 11
Sat, Jul 12
Sun, Jul 13
at Brewers
at Brewers
at Brewers
OFF
at Giants
at Giants
at Giants
4:40 p.m.
4:40 p.m.
11:10 a.m.
7:15 p.m.
1:05 p.m.
1:05 p.m.
Yamamoto v.
Kershaw v.
Glasnow v.
May v.
Ohtani v.
Sheehan v.
Peralta
Misiorowski
Quintana (L)
Webb
Birdsong
Roupp
SNLA
SNLA/TBS
SNLA/MLBN
SNLA/MLBN
SNLA
Roku
TBS and MLB Network telecasts are available out of market only