Los Angeles

Dodgers

Betts has three homers in seven games and is now just one away from getting to 20 and matching last year’s total despite spending five weeks on the IL early on. He’s 12-for-32 with 13 RBI and six walks in eight games this month.

The lone run came on Elly De La Cruz’s homer in the fourth. Yamamoto allowed only two other hits and walked one in the 90-pitch gem. He currently ranks second in the majors with a 0.88 WHIP, trailing only Jacob Misiorowski at 0.80. He’ll pitch in Cincinnati next time out.

Hernández’s homer off Tony Santillan was his third in 30 games this season. He knocked in four runs for the first time since way back on July 23, 2020, when he had his only ever five-RBI game against the Giants.

It took facing a catcher, but Tucker collected his first three-hit game of the second half. He was 10-for-81 with one homer in his previous 24 games, even though he had a nice 13/12 K/BB ratio during the span.

The one disadvantage built into Ohtani’s Two-Way Player status is that he has to be placed on the 15-day injured list like other pitchers. The Dodgers can backdate the assignment to Tuesday, but that still means Ohtani, who is dealing with knee and biceps injuries, will only be able to return for the final five days of the season. Expect Josue De Paula to play regularly against righties until then and probably share time between left field and DH with Teoscar Hernández.

Teoscar Hernández’s turnaround seemed to lessen the chances of a De Paula promotion, but maybe it’s Shohei Ohtani’s condition that has opened things back up. The 21-year-old De Paula has hit .303/.401/.547 with 27 homers and 31 steals in Double-A this year. He’s yet to play in Triple-A. The Dodgers will likely give him starts against right-handers in an effort to see if he can be useful in October.

Sasaki threw multiple innings during the up-and-down session, which puts him on track to jump back into Los Angeles’ rotation at some point early next week. The 24-year-old hit the injured list with a right middle finger blister in late August.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters Freeman is dealing with a right knee issue, which is why he was at DH earlier this week. The 36-year-old veteran is hitting .136 (3-for-22) with one homer and one steal over his last seven games. It’ll be Enrique Hernández at first base for the second straight contest.

Ohtani takes a seat for the sixth time in the last seven games as the Dodgers continue to manage his workload due to ongoing knee and biceps issues. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters a trip to the injured list is in play since Ohtani hasn’t fully recovered from playing in Monday’s series opener. There should be additional clarity on his status leading into Friday’s series opener against the Marlins in Miami. Fantasy managers should consider him day-to-day for the moment.

The Dodgers still want Smith getting plenty of rest after his long IL stint with a neck injury. He’ll get two days off with the off day Thursday and then play two out of three this weekend.