The Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays meeting this week drummed up plenty of reflection on the 2025 World Series, but Monday’s game at Rogers Centre was a stark contrast.
Not only was the matchup a regular season game in April, but the Blue Jays are in a much different spot while they deal with multiple injuries. Toronto has also proven susceptible to sloppy play so far in 2026, and that surfaced in the series opener as the Dodgers coasted to a season-best fourth consecutive win.
Dodgers 14, Blue Jays 2: key takeaways
Justin Wrobleski’s start
Justin Wrobleski anticipated a hostile welcoming his first time back in Toronto since exchanging words with Andrés Giménez in Game 7 of the World Series, and while the southpaw was among the players booed, it didn’t throw him off course.
Wrobleski did give up a lot of hard contact early, which led to the Blue Jays scoring a run in the first inning, but he largely settled in from there. What he lacked in strikeouts was made up for inducing soft contact as the game progressed.
Wrobleski held the Blue Jays to just the one run and only allowed two hits over five innings. If there was one negative that stuck out, it was the four walks Wrobleski issued.
Dalton Rushing, power barrage
Teoscar Hernández provided the Dodgers with an early lead by lofting a two-run homer out to left field in the first inning. Freddie Freeman crushed a two-run home run in the third inning that traveled 438 feet and extended the Dodgers’ lead to 4-1. Shohei Ohtani added the Dodgers’ third homer of the game to break it open in the sixth inning.
Prior to that blast, the Dodgers manufactured offense behind Kyle Tucker’s sacrifice fly and Alex Freeland grounding into a double play with a runner on third.
Dalton Rushing hit the Dodgers’ fourth and fifth homers of the night. It was part of Rushing’s first career four-hit game and marked a second consecutive day he homered. Prior to Monday night, Rushing never had more than two hits in a game or a multi-homer effort.
Andy Pages on fire
Fresh off being named National League Player of the Week, Andy Pages went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI. Pages’ two-run double put the Dodgers up 9-1 in the sixth inning and he was removed in the bottom half for rest purposes.
It was his seventh multi-hit game out of 10 overall this season.
Shohei Ohtani extends streak
Ohtani went 2-for-6 with the home run. That extended his on-base streak to 41 games, the longest stretch of Ohtani’s career. It’s also the longest active on-base streak.
Ohtani’s home run was his third of the season, with all of them coming in the last four games. While he was likely to start finding success anyhow, it’s possible Ohtani is reaping the benefits of recently breaking his routine to take batting practice on the field.
Max Scherzer injury?
Max Scherzer only pitched two innings before being replaced by Josh Fleming. Scherzer threw 36 pitches and exited with the Dodgers ahead 2-1. A reason was not given for his early exit, though Scherzer’s velocity was noticeably down.
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