The Dodgers last week lost Blake Snell to the injured list, with the left-hander set for surgery this Tuesday to remove loose bodies in his left elbow. This came after Tyler Glasnow was sidelined the week before with back spasms.
Losses on the field mounted too, including Monday and Tuesday to the San Francisco Giants, giving the Dodgers four straight losses by at least four runs, something they hadn’t done since 90 years ago. Shohei Ohtani’s hitting slump continued, such that he was given a two-day
respite at the plate. His gem on the mound started a winning streak, then his hitting helped continue it through the weekend when the Dodgers swept the Angels in Anaheim.
After getting outscored by 20 runs in their four-game skid, the Dodgers walloped the Giants and Angels 40-5 in a five-game win streak to end the week on a high note.
Batter of the week
Managing Shohei Ohtani’s workload will be a challenge this season, and this week saw him get his first actual rest day of the year. Ohtani didn’t hit when he pitched on Wednesday and didn’t hit on Thursday either. Despite being limited to five of the seven games offensively, Ohtani made his mark anyway with two doubles, a triple, and a home run, the latter snapping a string of 52 plate appearances without a long ball (directly after a 59-PA homerless skid). Ohtani this week hit .364/.462/.682 with a team-leading eight RBI.
Honorable mention goes to Teoscar Hernández, who ended a three-week drought of no extra-base hits with three doubles and a home run in his six games this week, and led the team with 11 hits.
Pitcher of the week
After a year and a half of rehab from his second Tommy John surgery followed by gradually building back up over the last few months of 2025, Shohei Ohtani has been fully unleashed on the mound from the get-go this year, with spectacular results. His latest gem was seven scoreless innings on Wednesday to beat the Giants, allowing only four singles and two walks with his eight strikeouts. That lowered Ohtani’s ERA to a major-league-best 0.82.
“He wants to be the best pitcher in baseball,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Right now, he’s doing it.”
This is the second time Ohtani has won the batter of the week and pitcher of the week here in the same week. He also did so last year for the week of July 7-13.
Honorable mention goes to Roki Sasaki, who had by far his best MLB outing to date with seven strong innings to beat the Angels on Sunday. It’s the first time with the Dodgers a start lasted past six innings for Sasaki, who struck out eight and, for the first time in the majors, walked zero.
Week 8 results
5-2 record
45 runs scored (6.43 per game)
20 runs allowed (2.86 per game)
.815 pythagorean win percentage
Year to date
29-18 record
248 runs scored (5.28 per game)
154 runs allowed (3.28 per game)
.705 pythagorean win percentage (33-14)
Miscellany
It takes a village: It was scramble mode for the Dodgers on Friday with one of their eggs cracked as Blake Snell was placed on the injured list. They used a bullpen game for the first time this season, to great success. Will Klein pitched the first two innings, followed by six reliever friends at one inning apiece to blank the Angels. Eight pitchers tied the most pitchers ever used in a shutout in Dodgers franchise history, along with May 3, 2015 in a 13-inning game against the Arizona Diamondbacks and September 29, 2019 at San Francisco, the last day of the regular season. In MLB history dating back to at least 1898, there are only 10 shutouts in which a team used at least eight pitchers. The two times nine pitchers were used in a shutout were extra-inning affairs. The Dodgers’ win on Friday was just the sixth nine-inning shutout with eight pitchers used.
More than hits: Saturday in Anaheim was the second Dodgers game this season with more runs scored than hits, along with March 27 against the Arizona Diamondbacks with five runs on four hits. Saturday was much more extreme, with 15 runs on 10 hits, thanks in large part to 10 walks and two times hit by a pitch. The win over the Angels was just the 15th major league game dating back to at least 1898 in which a team scored at least 15 runs on no more than 10 hits. The previous such game was August 10, 1993 by the Detroit Tigers against the Baltimore Orioles. The Dodgers did so one previous time, on July 13, 1929 in Brooklyn, collecting nine hits in a 15-8 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.
Lopsided sweep: The Dodgers scored 31 runs in their weekend sweep of the Angels, while allowing just three, outscoring the Halos by 28 runs. Since moving to Los Angeles, that was their second-most lopsided run differential in a three-game sweep, behind only April 21-23 against the Reds in Cincinnati, in which the Dodgers scored 36 runs and gave up seven. Since 1958, the Dodgers have only two other three-game stretches in which they outscored an opponent by 28 runs, but they were not in the same series — July 10-16, 2021 (+30) and August 11-14, 2019 (+28).
Transactions
Monday: After missing 32 games with a strained oblique, Mookie Betts was activated off the injured list. Alex Freeland was the odd man out in the infield, sent down to Oklahoma City.
Tuesday: The Dodgers acquired recently-DFA’d outfielder Alek Thomas from the D-backs for minor league outfielder Jose Requena, and designated outfielder Michael Siani for assignment. Thomas was optioned and sent to Cameback Ranch in Arizona for now.
“We have him in the organization, we’ll kind of do a deep dive on his swing to figure out of there’s some things we can unlock,” Roberts said Tuesday. “Then, if the opportunity presents itself, to get him up here.”
Friday: Blake Snell was placed on the injured list with loose bodies in his elbow, and will be out a while. Charlie Barnes got the call from Oklahoma City.
Sunday: For the first time as a pro Jack Dreyer is on the injured list, with left shoulder discomfort. Paul Gervase and Chayce McDermott were called up from Triple-A, and Barnes was optioned.
Sunday: With Snell and Tyler Glansnow sidelined, the Dodgers added starting depth by trading for Eric Lauer, and Brusdar Graterol was moved to the 60-day injured list after a setback in his rehab assignment.
Game results
- Monday: Giants 9, Dodgers 3
- Tuesday: Giants 6, Dodgers 2
- Wednesday: Dodgers 4, Giants 0
- Thursday: Dodgers 5, Giants 2
- Friday: Dodgers 6, Angels 0
- Saturday: Dodgers 15, Angels 2
- Sunday: Dodgers 10, Angels 1
Previous reviews: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7
Up next
After a pseudo-away series near enough to home over the weekend in Anaheim, the Dodgers hit the road for real this week while running the Kurt Bevacqua gauntlet, playing three games each in San Diego and Milwaukee against teams they’ve faced in the postseason once each over the last two years.
The Dodgers flipped the rotation a bit, with Shohei Ohtani bumped to Wednesday’s series finale at Petco Park, which lines him up to pitch directly before an off day (and likely two such weeks in a row). That means Emmet Sheehan on Tuesday, which will be the first start by a Dodgers pitcher on four days rest this season. The weekend rotation in Milwaukee is a guess, depending on how and when they decide to use newcomer Eric Lauer into the mix.
