Los Angeles

Dodgers

There’s no sugarcoating Ohtani’s struggles at the plate, where he has looked uncomfortable and, at times, completely lost. The 32-year-old generational talent is hitting just .150 (3-for-20) with seven strikeouts this postseason. His power outage has extended well beyond October, as he went 11-for-70 (.157) with 29 strikeouts over his final 18 regular-season games since his last home run on August 18. At this point, it’s fair to wonder whether top prospect Josue De Paula deserves a look in hopes of providing an unexpected spark, particularly with Los Angeles struggling to generate any over-the-fence pop this postseason. The Dodgers are facing a 2-0 deficit as the best-of-seven series heads to California for Game 3 on Wednesday.

The Brewers made Yamamoto work, running up his pitch count before chasing him from the contest in the third inning when Christian Yelich delivered a go-ahead two-run single after Jake Bauers drew a surreal 12-pitch walk to load the bases. He struck out one batter and issued a pair of walks in the abbreviated 75-pitch outing. It was an uncharacteristic postseason stumble for Yamamoto, who has emerged as the Dodgers’ most reliable stopper over the last two Octobers. The 28-year-old right-hander is in line to start a potential Game 6 showdown and should be available out of the bullpen for the remainder of the series, if needed.

It’s Edman’s first start in four games. Kiké Hernández is getting bumped to make room. The lineup: SS Mookie Betts, 1B Freddie Freeman, OF Teoscar Hernández, C Will Smith, 3B Max Muncy, CF Andy Pages, RF Kyle Tucker and 2B Edman.

In the top of the second, Pages poked an opposite-field single to score Shohei Ohtani to give Los Angeles a 1-0 lead. It would be the last run of the game as Jacob Misiorowski and in particular the Brewers’ bullpen was excellent and kept Los Angeles from many scoring opportunities. Pages has driven in three runs thus far in the postseason in five games, and hit .278 in the process.

Skubal was excellent over the first three innings, but allowed a solo homer to Brice Turang that tied the game in the fourth, and a go-ahead single to Luis Lara in the fifth. The southpaw struck out seven in the contest against two walks, and allowed five hits. It was far from a poor effort from Skubal, but it’s fair to say we’ve seen the ace look better. It seems unlikely this will be the last time we see Skubal on the mound for Los Angeles, as he could be available for Game 4 or start Game 5 on regular rest.

Hernández got the start at second base in Game 4 against Atlanta, and he’ll do the same for the LCS opener against Jacob Misiorowski and the Milwaukee staff. Tommy Edman will open Sunday’s game on the bench. The full lineup: Mookie Betts SS, Freddie Freeman 1B, Will Smith C, Shohei Ohtani DH, Teoscar Hernández OF, Max Muncy 3B, Andy Pages CF, Kyle Tucker RF and Hernández at second with Tarik Skubal on the mound.

Dodgers’ skipper Dave Roberts had mentioned that the team would likely add an extra bullpen arm at the expense of a position player, and that’s exactly what they did with Hyeseong Kim being left off of the roster. Everything else is exactly as it was for their Divisional Series against the Braves.

Rojas exited Game 3 of the NLDS and sat out Game 4 due pain in his lower back, but he’s feeling much improved after a recent cortisone injection. He was able to take ground balls and swing the bat on Saturday without issue and should be good to go barring any setbacks.

Rojas exited Game 3 of the NLDS due to pain in his lower back and sat out Game 4 on Wednesday. While he has progressed steadily during their time off, he’s still not ready to return and could potentially be left off of the Dodgers’ roster for their NLCS battle against the Brewers. Expect the Dodgers to make a final decision on his status on Sunday.

That was the expectation all along, but it has now been confirmed. Right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start in Game 2 with Blake Snell expected to start in Game 3. Skubal delivered a dominant performance in his Dodgers’ postseason debut, striking out seven batters over six innings of one-run ball in a victory over the Braves in Game 1 of the NLDS.