The Dodgers did not forget how they fared against the Angels last year. This year, the Dodgers are returning the favor as they completed the sweep of the Angels on Sunday behind Roki Sasaki’s finest start at the big league level, taking the finale 10-1.
The Dodgers once again took the first lead, as after loading the bases against Grayson Rodriguez with one out in the top of the second, Miguel Rojas drove home Kyle Tucker on a sacrifice fly for the game’s first run. Hyeseong Kim followed up Rojas with an
RBI single to drive home Max Muncy and take a 2-0 lead.
Rodriguez faced the minimum in the third inning, but the Dodgers wouldn’t make life easy for him in the fourth. Following a leadoff walk to Teoscar Hernández, Rodriguez got two quick outs, but Rojas kept the inning alive with a base hit to left. Kim followed with another single to load the bases, and Shohei Ohtani continued to torment his former team by smacking a two-run single up the middle, giving him seven RBI in the series and making it a four-run lead.
Freddie Freeman continued the two-out rally with a walk, and Andy Pages registered the second two-out, two-run single, knocking Rodriguez out of the game and giving the Dodgers a 6-0 lead. Pages’s 41 RBI on the year surpassed Miami Marlins catcher Liam Hicks for the most in all of baseball. The Dodgers ended the rally with an RBI single from Tucker against José Fermin to make it another five-run inning in the series.
Had the Dodgers just scored two runs, it would have been enough for Roki Sasaki. In what was the greatest start of his young big league career, Sasaki tossed his second quality start of the season. After allowing a one-out double to Mike Trout in the bottom of the first, Sasaki went on to retire the next nine hitters in a row, with the only blemish on his outing being an RBI single from Yoan Moncada in the bottom of the fourth.
Sasaki tossed 91 pitches with a career-high 69 strikes on Sunday, logging a career-high in innings and strikeouts with seven and eight respectively while not allowing a single walk for the first time in a big league start. A noticeable difference in the way Sasaki pitched was the increased reliance on his slider, which he struck out five hitters with and tossed at a 27 percent clip. His 18 whiffs on the day were the most he’s generated in any start throughout his big league career.
Although the overall numbers on the season still reflect a poor start for Sasaki, he continues to show improvements on the mound as he has a 3.50 ERA over his lsat three starts with 17 strikeouts to just three walks over 18 innings.
The Dodgers added three more runs in the ninth inning with a two-run double from Tucker and an RBI single from Hernández to give the Dodgers two consecutive 10-run outbursts against the Angels. Right-hander Chayse McDermott made his Dodger debut on Sunday, coming in for the ninth and helping secure the sweep.
It is the first time that the Dodgers have outscored their opponent by at least 25 runs in a series this year, as the Dodgers combined for 31 runs compared to just three for the Angels. It is their first series win since taking two of three against the Houston Astros and their first sweep since their three-game sweep of the New York Mets at home. It is the first time that the Dodgers have swept the Angels at Angel Stadium since May 2021.
Game particulars
- WP— Roki Sasaki (2-3): 7 IP, 4 hits, 1 earned run, 0 walks, 8 strikeouts
- LP— Grayson Rodriguez (0-1): 3 2/3 IP, 7 hits, 6 earned runs, 4 walks, 4 strikeouts
Up next
The Dodgers’ road trip stays in Southern California, as the Dodgers open a three-game series against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park on Monday (6:40 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA). Yoshinobu Yamamoto goes for the Dodgers, while San Diego has yet to announce Monday’s starter.
