LOS ANGELES — Justin Wrobleski piled up more zeroes and kept Dodgers infielders busy, out-dueling Drew Rasmussen on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium. Shohei Ohtani provided the game’s only run in a 1-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.
Wrobleski had one of his most efficient outings of the season, needing only 67 pitches to complete his six innings. That it wasn’t obviously the most economical is a testament to how effective the left-hander has been this year.
He allowed only three singles and walked none,
with five strikeouts in those six frames. The biggest threat came in the fourth, when Alex Slater led off with a hit then stole second base. But Wrobleski got the next three batters in a row to strand Slater, the only three at-bats Tampa Bay had with a runner in scoring position against him.
Wrobleski also induced a whopping 10 groundouts, out of character with his 41-percent career groundball rate in the majors, including 38.3 percent entering Tuesday, when 12 of 16 batted balls against him were on the ground.
Despite the efficiency, Wrobleski still got the hook after six frames, the ninth time in a dozen starts he’s lasted at least that long this year, a move more understandable considering Wrobleski was pitching on four days rest for the first time this season, just the second such start by a Dodgers starter this season.
Five of Wrobleski’s 12 starts have been scoreless outings.
Though Wrobleski walked off the mound in a 0-0 tie, Wednesday’s starting pitcher — Shohei Ohtani — gave the Tuesday starter a lead by taking Drew Rasmussen over the center field wall for the first run of the game.
Ohtani’s blast spoiled a gem of a game by Rasmussen, who struck out seven in his seven innings and, like Wrobleski, didn’t walk a batter. The home run was the only run surrendered by the Rays right-hander.
Will Klein walked his first batter in the seventh, but got out of the inning unscathed. Kyle Hurt and Tanner Scott were perfect in the eighth and ninth, respectively, as the Dodgers wrapped up their win in a tidy one hour, 52 minutes, their fastest nine-inning game since October 4, 1992.
Tuesday particulars
Home run: Shohei Ohtani (15)
WP — Justin Wrobleski (8-2): 6 IP, 3 hits, 5 strikeouts
LP — Drew Rasmussen (6-3): 7 IP, 6 hits, 1 run, 7 strikeouts
Sv — Tanner Scott (9): 1 IP, 2 strikeouts
Up next
This series concludes with the final weekday Dodger Stadium day game of the regular season on Wednesday (12:10 p.m.; SportsNet LA, MLB Network), with Ohtani on the mound against left-hander Shane McClanahan. Expect the newly-activated Tommy Edman to make his first start of the season.
