The sixth inning was the key to the Dodgers’ 15-2 win over the Angels on Saturday night. Justin Wrobleski the day after a bullpen game completed six innings for his sixth straight start, and the Dodgers broke open the game with five runs in the sixth inning against Halos ace José Soriano.
After a four-game losing streak earlier in the week, the Dodgers have now won four straight.
Shohei Ohtani walked and Mookie Betts singled to open the game, setting up the first run. The Dodgers have scored first in each
of their last five games, including runs in the first inning in three of those contests, after no opening-frame tallied in 11 of their previous 12 games.
Soriano has allowed five first-inning runs in his 10 starts this season, but had only allowed six total runs in his other 49 1/3 frames, before the sixth inning on Saturday.
Believe it or not, Soriano did not allow another hit after the Betts single, but gave up five more runs. That’s because with one out in the fifth inning, Soriano walked two batters, hit Smith with a pitch, then walked two more batters to force in two runs and end his night.
Chase Silseth relieved him and was wild in his own right, plunking Teoscar Hernández for another run without a hit. Alex Call broke things open with a two-run single to close the book on one of the oddest pitching lines you’ll ever see.
Soriano walked a career-high six batters, which helped charge six runs to his ledger despite only one hit allowed. He’s just the fifth pitcher ever to give up at least six runs to the Dodgers on either zero or one hit:
- Lefty Weinert, Phillies (1923): 0 IP, 0 hits, 4 walks, HBP, 6 runs (4 earned)
- Red Lynn, Cubs (1944): 1 1/3 IP, 1 hit, 5 walks, 6 runs (5 earned)
- Tim Stauffer, Padres (2011): 1 2/3 IP, 1 hit, 7 walks, 7 runs
- Elvis Araújo, Phillies (2016): 1/3 IP, 1 hit, 3 walks, HBP, 6 runs (2 earned)
- José Soriano, Angels (2026): 5 1/3 IP, 1 hit, 6 walks, HBP, 6 runs
That sixth inning really warped what to that point was a tight game, with Wrobleski tasked with lasting as long as he could after the Dodgers used eight pitchers in a bullpen game in the series opener on Friday night.
The left-hander was up to the task, with five strikeouts and a walk in six innings, and threw 65 percent of his pitches for strikes. The Angels did not score against Wrobleski until a two-run double by Jo Adell in the sixth inning, after the Dodgers already scored six.
Jorge Soler led off the fourth inning with a double to give the Angels their best early threat against Wrobleski, and they nearly scored. Nolan Schanuel peppered a ball 99 mph off the bat to the gap in right center field but Andy Pages swooped in with a diving, rolling catch to end a scoreless inning.
Wrobleski helped his own cause in the third inning, somehow reaching back across his body while jumping to snag a liner by Vaughn Grissom.
Wrobleski allowed a walk and nearly two hits in the second inning, but the first of those batted balls was to the warning track in left field, nearly caught but not by Teoscar Hernández. Jo Adell was on first base after a walk, and while waiting to see if the ball was caught didn’t get to second base in time before he was erased on a rare 7-6-4 relay force out at second base. That helped Wrobleski escape the inning unscathed.
The Dodgers were already comfortable ahead before they piled on with four runs in the eighth, in which Ohtani hit a two-run triple and scored on an error, and five more in the ninth, an inning that saw Ohtani hit a three-run double. All of those nine late runs were charged to Alek Manoah, who recorded only four outs.
Notes
- Ten walks as a team is two more than any other game from Dodgers batters this season.
- Will Smith drove in the run in the first inning with a sacrifice fly, a 103.5-mph rocket to deep right field that was tracked down by Jo Adell. Smith since 2020, his first full season, leads all major leaguers with 44 sacrifice flies — four more than second-most Eugenio Suárez — including three this season.
- Pages and Max Muncy walked consecutively with the bases loaded in the sixth inning to end Soriano’s night. It was the first time the Dodgers had two bases-loaded walks in the same inning since September 19, 2024 (the Ohtani 51-51 game), when Gavin Lux and Pages did so in Miami.
Saturday particulars
Home run: Mookie Betts (4)
WP — Justin Wrobleski (6-1): 6 IP, 7 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts
LP — José Soriano (6-3): 5 1/3 IP, 1 hit, 6 runs, 6 walks, 6 strikeouts
Up next
Dodgers go for the sweep on Sunday (1:07 p.m.; SportsNet LA, KCOP channel 13) with Roki Sasaki starting for the road team and Grayson Rodriguez making his Angels debut after missing over seven weeks with shoulder inflammation.
