{"id":204492,"date":"2025-09-06T08:16:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T08:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/204492\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T08:16:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T08:16:11","slug":"shohei-ohtani-in-as-emergency-starter-but-dodgers-lose-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/204492\/","title":{"rendered":"Shohei Ohtani in as emergency starter, but Dodgers lose again"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BALTIMORE\u00a0\u2014\u00a0In one corner of the room, Tanner Scott<\/a> stared blankly into his locker, trying to come to grips with yet another game he let get away.<\/p>\n

Across from him, Dalton Rushing<\/a> propped a pair of crutches under his arms, limping out of sight with the Dodgers<\/a>\u2019 latest injury.<\/p>\n

On the opposite wall, Freddie Freeman<\/a> got dressed at his stall; taking in the somber scene in the visiting clubhouse at Camden Yards, while trying to think of exactly what to say about the team\u2019s troubling, tumbling, torturous current play.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes, you just don\u2019t have the right answers,\u201d Freeman said, as reporters gathered around for a familiar line of questions. \u201cNot going to sit here and give some cliches. We\u2019re just not playing very good. … There\u2019s no sugarcoating this. We need to figure this out, and figure this out quick.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, just when the Dodgers\u2019 second-half slump seemed like it couldn\u2019t get any worse, Friday delivered a new set of headaches.<\/p>\n

Scheduled starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow<\/a> was scratched in the afternoon with back tightness, forcing Shohei Ohtani<\/a> to pitch on just five hours\u2019 notice.<\/p>\n

\"Shohei <\/p>\n

Shohei Ohtani pitches during the first inning of a loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Friday at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.<\/p>\n

(Scott Taetsch \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Rushing exited early after fouling a ball painfully off his right shin, leaving the Dodgers without both their starting backstop (Will Smith remains sidelined with a bone bruise on his hand) or his backup (X-rays on Rushing\u2019s leg were negative, but he will also need a CT scan) for at least the next few days.<\/p>\n

And then, of course, there was the game: A 2-1 walk-off loss<\/a> to the last-place Baltimore Orioles that sent the slumping Dodgers to a fourth-straight defeat.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can sit here after every game and talk about what we need to do,\u201d Freeman said. \u201cIt\u2019s just, we got to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Friday went off the rails before the Dodgers (78-63) even arrived at the ballpark, starting with a flurry of phone calls to figure out their pitching.<\/p>\n

After the team\u2019s late arrival from Pittsburgh the night before, Glasnow reported some bad news to the team\u2019s training staff: His back tightened up on the short flight to Baltimore. And a night of sleep hadn\u2019t resolved the issue.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, Dodgers coaches, staffers and front-office officials in Baltimore and back in Los Angeles began what pitching coach Mark Prior described as a \u201cgame of telephone\u201d \u2014 trying to figure out what to do about Glasnow, and who could pitch if he was unable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a lot of moving parts,\u201d Prior quipped.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the team decided to scratch Glasnow, opting for a cautious approach to what they hope is only a minor issue. According to manager Dave Roberts, the tentative plan is to slot Glasnow back into the rotation early next week. But given his injury history, questions will linger until he\u2019s actually back on the hill.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the team had to decide who to send to the mound on Friday. At around 2 p.m., the request went to Ohtani \u2014 who had been scratched from his own scheduled pitching start Wednesday in Pittsburgh while battling an illness, but had improved enough to oblige the short-notice request.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s gonna be OK,\u201d Freeman joked as he followed Ohtani into the visiting clubhouse at Camden Yards a few hours later. \u201cThe unicorn is here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ohtani did his part in what was an abbreviated outing by design, delivering 3\u2154 scoreless innings with five strikeouts and three hits allowed.<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The Baltimore Orioles\u2019 Samuel Basallo flips his bat after hitting a walk-off home run against the Dodgers Friday in Baltimore.<\/p>\n

(Stephanie Scarbrough \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

But, in their latest dispiriting performance, the Dodgers couldn\u2019t make it matter, going silent at the plate again before suffering yet another late-game meltdown.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know each day the guys come in fresh, prepared and expecting a different result,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cBut we\u2019re just not getting it done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Offensively, the Dodgers struggled to generate chances, or capitalize upon the few they did. Baltimore starter Dean Kremer retired his first eight batters, including first-inning fly balls from Mookie Betts<\/a> and Freeman that died at the wall. When the Dodgers did create opportunities in the third (getting two aboard with two outs) and the fourth (loading the bases with two outs) they came up empty; continuing an inexplicable slide in which they\u2019ve ranked 27th in the majors in scoring over their last 53 games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe individually are trying to find ways on our own to … [be] hitting better than we are,\u201d Ohtani, who managed only a walk in four trips to the plate, said through interpreter Will Ireton. \u201cBut I think the side effect of that is, we\u2019re a little too eager, and putting too much pressure on ourselves. That\u2019s really hurting us more than it\u2019s helping.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the mound, meanwhile, Ohtani managed to post zeros, navigating the Orioles (65-76) with a fastball that touched 101.5 mph and a varied mix that helped induce 12 swing-and-misses.<\/p>\n

But as soon as he exited \u2014 pulled after 70 pitches given the rushed leadup to his start \u2014 the Dodgers quickly fell behind on a glaring defensive lapse.<\/p>\n

In the fifth, the Orioles drew a pair of walks. Then, with lead runner Jackson Holliday breaking for third, a sweeper in the dirt got past Rushing \u2014 the fifth wild pitch he allowed in the last two games filling in for Smith.<\/p>\n

Holliday turned for home as Rushing scrambled to the backstop. By the time Rushing threw to the plate, Holliday was already sliding in safely for the first run of the game.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers\u2019 deficit didn\u2019t last for long. On the first pitch of the sixth, Freeman whacked another fly ball that carried deep enough to get out this time, his 19th home run of the season tying the score 1-1.<\/p>\n

But then, more frustration followed \u2014 with the Dodgers leaving two runners stranded later in that inning, when Rushing was forced to exit with his injury; then another in the seventh, when Freeman grounded out following a two-out double from Betts.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot scoring runs, it\u2019s just not who we are,\u201d Freeman said. \u201cWe\u2019re not getting anything going. We\u2019re not getting the hits.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t for a while,\u201d he added. \u201cI truly have no answers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neither, it appears, does Scott, the already embattled closer who suffered his latest calamity in the ninth.<\/p>\n

After getting the first two outs, the left-hander made the same kind of mistake that has haunted him all season, leaving a 1-and-2 fastball right down the middle to Samuel Basallo that the Orioles catcher clobbered for a no-doubt, winning blast deep to right-center field.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just keep making terrible pitch selections right when it matters, and it\u2019s costing us every time,\u201d said Scott, who has a 4.52 ERA and 11 combined blown saves and charged losses. \u201cIt sucks. It feels terrible. And I have to figure it out. Because baseball hates me right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lately, it hasn\u2019t been more relenting on the Dodgers as a whole, either \u2014 dealing them painful losses and crippling injuries amid a continued search for any shred of improved play.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all are confident in who we are as baseball players. We\u2019re just not doing it right now in the field,\u201d Freeman said, as the gloomy postgame clubhouse surrounding him reflected the anguished state of the team. \u201cThe game of baseball\u2019s really hard, but the concept is easy. We\u2019re making the concept really hard right now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BALTIMORE\u00a0\u2014\u00a0In one corner of the room, Tanner Scott stared blankly into his locker, trying to come to grips…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":204493,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[20698,2385,2442,5208,23590,112782,34416,26092,21700,26804,4712,62,22799,28211,3007,6601,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-204492","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ball","9":"tag-day","10":"tag-dodgers","11":"tag-friday","12":"tag-guy","13":"tag-mound-friday","14":"tag-next-week","15":"tag-orioles","16":"tag-pitch","17":"tag-roberts","18":"tag-shohei-ohtani","19":"tag-sports","20":"tag-start","21":"tag-starter","22":"tag-team","23":"tag-tyler-glasnow","24":"tag-united-states","25":"tag-unitedstates","26":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115156365130173384","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}