ANAHEIM — The Dodgers found the perfect spot to get Roki Sasaki on track, while the Angels picked a tough opponent for Grayson Rodriguez to get his first major league action in nearly two years.
The Dodgers scored seven runs against Rodriguez and Sasaki dominated over a career-high seven innings, as the Dodgers beat the Angels, 10-1, on Sunday afternoon, completing their sweep of the Freeway Series.
The Dodgers outscored the Angels 31-3 in the series, officially putting an end to their offensive malaise from the last couple of weeks. The first-place Dodgers (29-18) have now won five in a row heading into their series with the second-place Padres.
“I think defensively, running the bases we’ve been doing well and I think we’ve pitched really well,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “We just needed to get some success on the hitting and to break out like that was good for the confidence.”
The Angels (16-31), who have now lost six in a row and 21 of their last 26, have been in an offensive slump for weeks, so it was no surprise that Sasaki pitched his best game of the season.
He struck out eight and did not walk a batter for the first time in 16 career major league starts.
“He looked really good today,” Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing said. “We know that what he just did was obviously the best we’ve seen up to this point, but I trust that guy’s got a lot more in the tank. It was fun to work with him today.”
The Angels were impressed, too.
“He’s got good stuff,” Angels first baseman Nolan Schanuel said of Sasaki. “He came in and threw strikes. You could tell he’s been working, because we faced him in the (exhibition) Freeway Series and he was kind of all over the place. He’s figured it out. He’s got good stuff. His fastball had good run, good ride, and then when he threw that splitter and it matched plane with the fastball, it was hard to tell the two apart. He just came and threw his best today.”
That was bad news for the Angels (16-31), who have had plenty of rough stretches over their decade of losing baseball, but this one has been particularly jarring because injuries have not been a significant factor. The roster they are using is essentially the one they planned on having, now including Rodriguez in the rotation.
He was one of the top young starters in the majors before injuries derailed his career with the Baltimore Orioles. The Angels picked him up over the winter, gambling that he could provide a boost if he was healthy. Before Sunday, he hadn’t pitched in a major league game since July 31, 2024.
The radar gun seemed to indicate that he is healthy – his fastball averaged 96 mph and hit 99 mph – but his command showed the rust from the long layoff.
“Fastball was great,” Rodriguez said. “Really, it came down to leaving offspeed pitches up. I thought I threw some really good pitches at a really good lineup, but in big spots with runners on base, offspeed pitches were left up. And they were able to put the bat on the ball and score some runs.”
Rodriguez walked two in the second inning, and the Dodgers converted that to two runs. In the fourth, he started the inning by walking Teoscar Hernandez, before getting the next two outs. He couldn’t get the third.
Miguel Rojas singled. Hyesong Kim then hit a grounder to the right of Schanuel. Kim beat Rodriguez to the bag for an infield hit. Schanuel hesitated, looking toward second before trying to throw to first.
“If I can go back, I probably would have thrown it to second,” Schanuel said. “I made a mistake and it was a bang-bang play. Hats off to Kim for hustling down the line.”
Shohei Ohtani then laced a two-run single into center, making it 4-0. Ohtani, who had three hits on Sunday, went 6 for 13 with two doubles and seven RBIs in the series against his former team.
Rodriguez then walked Freddie Freeman and gave up a single to Andy Pages, ending his day. The final run was tacked on to his line on a Kyle Tucker single, one of his three hits.
Rodriguez said he was happy to get the first one out of the way and come through healthy, despite the results.
“Obviously, there were some nerves,” Rodriguez said. “That’s a good team. I wish I could have pitched a lot deeper into that game and had a lot better result, but you know, it’s over with now. Look forward to the next one. There’s a lot of season left. A lot of ball games to start. Just keep grinding.”
At that point, the Dodgers had a 7-0 lead, and Sasaki could cruise.
It certainly helped Sasaki that he was facing an Angels team that had not even scored three runs in any of the last six games. The Angels have scored a major-league worst 73 runs in their last 26 games.
“I don’t think anyone’s pressing,” Schanuel said. “I don’t think anyone’s trying to hit the home run. I think just sometimes guys get hot or just swings don’t go our way. We’ve had a couple pretty crappy days where we just hit a bunch of hard balls at people, and guys are making good plays in the outfield, making diving plays. I know Tucker took one away from Jo (Adell) earlier in the series, and Pages out in center, he took a couple away from the guys. I mean, stuff’s not falling. Just got to keep swinging.”
