Hours after Clayton Kershaw spoke with reporters to formally announce his decision to retire after the 2025 season, the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the San Francisco Giants to make more progress toward clinching a postseason berth and the National League West.
In what has become an all-too-familiar result for Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Dodgers failed to provide run support during his time in the game. Yamamoto wound up pitching 5.1 scoreless innings despite setting a career high with six walks. Though, some of those could be attributed to a tight strike zone by home plate umpire Ryan Wills.
Yamamoto helped offset the free passes by collecting seven strikeouts, and he was aided by Jack Dreyer stranding a runner in scoring position in the sixth inning.
The Dodgers turned that into some momentum in the bottom half of the inning as Shohei Ohtani’s double put two runners in scoring position with one out. Ben Rortvedt nearly ran into an out at home plate but Patrick Bailey dropped a throw from Willy Adames.
Freddie Freeman’s RBI single then put the Dodgers ahead 2-0.
Their lead was immediately cut in half as walks remained an issue regardless of which pitcher was on the mound. Michael Kopech started the seventh inning with back-to-back walks and was removed after getting a strikeout.
Blake Treinen promptly walked two batters in a row upon taking over, bringing in a run. Treinen managed to find enough of his release point and induced some chase to bounce back with consecutive strikeouts.
Anthony Banda retired the side in order in the eighth inning and Alex Vesia converted the save in the Dodgers’ 2-1 win.
Dodgers’ magic numbers
The Dodgers’ magic number to clinch a spot in the postseason for the 13th consecutive season is now down to one. They can punch their ticket for October baseball with a win on Friday, or a loss by the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The magic number for the Dodgers to clinch the NL West is now six. Their lead over the San Diego Padres is three games.
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