Roki Sasaki continued to deal with command issues and the Los Angeles Dodgers settled for a series win as they fell short of sweeping the Texas Rangers.
With that, the only time the Dodgers have swept the Rangers in a three-game series was from June 30-July 2, 1998, at The Ballpark in Arlington.
Rangers 5, Dodgers 2: key takeaways
Shohei Ohtani heating up
Ohtani immediately extended his on-base streak to 46 games with a leadoff home run to pull the Dodgers even with the Rangers. Ohtani is one game away from tying Ron Cey for the second-longest on-base streak in Los Angeles franchise history. Duke Snider’s 58 games is the longest on-base streak in overall Dodgers history.
Ohtani’s fifth homer of the season came on the first pitch he’d ever seen from Jacob deGrom. It also gave Ohtani back-to-back games with a leadoff home run.
Roki Sasaki
Sasaki set a career high with six strikeouts and held the Rangers to just two runs over four innings. However, it was accompanied by five walks that tied for the most in his career. The Rangers had at least one hit and one walk in each of the first three innings.
Sasaki stranded a leadoff single and walk in the first inning by striking out three batters in a row, including two on his fastball.
A leadoff walk and double put two in scoring position with one out in the second inning, but Sasaki again worked out of trouble without allowing a run. That changed when Evan Carter hit a first-pitch fastball left out over the plate for a leadoff home run in the third.
Joc Pederson’s single wound up sparking a two-out rally for the Rangers, albeit one that was aided by a wild pitch and walk. Josh Smith’s RBI base hit put the Rangers ahead 2-1 before Sasaki could work out of the inning, stranding the bases loaded.
Sasaki’s short outing certainly could have been much worse if not for the Rangers 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position against him.
Lineup change
Not long after manager Dave Roberts acknowledged it was possible for Andy Pages to be moved up in the Dodgers lineup, the young center fielder hit third on Sunday.
Much of that stemmed from Mookie Betts currently being on the 10-day injured list and Will Smith receiving a day of rest. Pages went 1-for-4 and has hit safely in 12 of 15 games this season.
But the bat was taken out of his hands in the third inning when an apparent double steal backfired. Alex Call stopped running toward third base after initially breaking on the pitch, and was caught in a rundown for the third out to leave two on base.
Kyle Tucker’s slump
Tucker remained mired in a home skid as he finished 1-for-5 with two strikeouts in the Dodgers’ loss. One of those was particularly costly as the Rangers intentionally walked Ohtani to put two on with two outs in the fifth inning.
He did come up with a two-out RBI single in the seventh inning but the Dodgers never drew any closer, and the Rangers added to their lead in the eighth anyhow.
Tucker is just 2-for-13 on the homestand thus far.
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