
Evidently, playing the Brewers is a tougher task than anyone could’ve imagined. Nothing quite so dramatic is in play here, but having lost all four of their meetings with Milwaukee, including a shutout defeat at home on Friday, the Dodgers might be playing with a little extra point to prove against the Brewers and their ace Freddy Peralta.
The lack of runs would be less alarming if it didn’t present itself as simply yet another game in a recent trend of underwhelming offensive performances, to say
the least. Across their last 10 games, the Dodgers have scored two or fewer runs seven different times, plus another extra-inning game in which they scored only two runs in the first nine innings.
In the four games against Milwaukee, Los Angeles is averaging one run per game and thus promptly wasting some terrific pitching performances.
Singling out a hitter who shows some promise heading into this game, you could look at Freddie Freeman, who has gotten an extra-base hit in three straight affairs. Before this successful stretch, Freeman had gone seven consecutive games without an extra-base hit. Furthermore, albeit with a fairly small sample, Freeman has had success against Peralta in his career, with eight total bases (.615 SLG) in 13 at-bats against the Brewers’ ace.
On the pitching side of things, after delivering an outstanding performance following Shohei Ohtani on the mound, Emmett Sheehan will make only his third start of the year. The young right-hander has allowed just three runs in 13⅓ innings of work against three playoff contenders (Padres, Astros, and Giants) since returning from the injured list.
The expectation is that the rotation will get more crowded as the year progresses, with different names coming back and reestablishing themselves, but if Sheehan keeps pitching like he has, the case for a significant role will only increase. In comparison with what he did in 2023, Sheehan has found success relying more on the slider and tossing fewer heaters, a pitch that got rocked in his first taste in the big leagues.
Saturday game info
- Teams: Dodgers vs. Brewers
- Ballpark: Dodger Stadium
- Start time: 6:10 p.m. PT
- TV: SportsNet LA
- Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)
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