Dodgers Bash Angels To Sweep Freeway Series With 10-1 Win As Rodriguez Gets Blasted

The Los Angeles Angels waited for six weeks to see Grayson Rodriguez make his first start of the season, and that start turned out to be just like the rest of the bad starts by most members of the Angels rotation, as the Los Angeles Dodgers pounded Rodriguez for seven earned runs on the way to a 10-1 route. 

The win gave the Dodgers a Freeway Series sweep, and it continued the Angels’ stretch of miserable play. They were shut down in this one by Dodgers starter Roki Sasaki, who pitched seven innings of one-run ball to get the win as he gave up four hits and struck out eight. 

As for Rodriguez, there wasn’t much good news, but he did look healthy in his first outing. He was able to get outs early, with the Dodges breaking through with two runs in the second on a pair of RBI singles by Miguel Rojas and Hyeseong Kim. 

The wheels came off completely for Rodriguez in the fourth as the Dodgers put up a five spot. Shohei Ohtani had an RBI single as apart of a three-hit, two-RBI game, with Andy Pages and Kyle Tucker also contributing base hits that drove in runs. Rodriguez’s final line included seven runs, seven hits and four walks. 

The game was essentially over after that, but the Angels finally got on the board in the seventh as Yoan Moncada drove in Nolan Schanuel with an RBI single. The Dodgers scored three more in the ninth as Ryan Johnson blew up in his second inning of relief, with Tucker and Teoscar Hernandez driving in the runs. All of the Dodgers’ runs scored with two outs as both Rodriguez and Johnson couldn’t find the put-away pitch. 

The Angels offense definitely got put away, though. The Halos struck out 11 times, and the lone extra-base hit came on a double from Mike Trout. This is a very easy offense to shut down, and Angels’ opponents are doing just that in game after game. 

The most amazing thing about this is that the Angels are somehow still in contention in the abysmal AL West, at least theoretically. They have a four-series against the Athletics starting tomorrow night, and if the Angels are somehow able to put it together and win three or four games, they could close the ground between them and the A’s to something more manageable than 7.5 games after today’s loss. It seems unlikely, but the A’s are 23-23, so no one’s out of this yet.