Yamamoto looks to play stopper, Ohtani takes a step in his return to the mound

The Dodgers dropped a fourth consecutive game last night, losing 9-5 in the opener against Arizona. Jack Dreyer struggled as an opener (with the help from some bad defense) and Landon Knack continued to struggle with the longball, while the Dodgers got babip’d to death by Brandon Pfaadt. They did hit three homers off Pfaadt, but those were the only three hits he allowed despite not recording a strikeout or a whiff. It was one of those days for the offense, but the pitching continued to be a concern. Today, the Dodgers get their ace on the mound as they look to snap this losing streak.

7:10 P.M.

Los Angeles

RF
Carroll (L)
DH
Ohtani (L)

2B
Marte (S)
SS
Betts

LF
Gurriel Jr.
1B
Freeman (L)

1B
Naylor (L)
C
Smith

C
Moreno
3B
Muncy (L)

DH
Smith (L)
RF
Pages

SS
Perdomo (S)
LF
Conforto (L)

CF
Thomas (L)
CF
K. Hernández

3B
Lawler
2B
Kim (L)

P
Nelson (R)
P
Yamamoto (R)

Yoshinobu Yamamoto gets the start, hoping to end the Dodgers’ struggles and his own personal struggles. Yamamoto allowed four runs in six starts in March/April, but has allowed eight over his last two outings (his two outings on five days’ rest as opposed to four days). His start in Arizona on May 8 kicked off this cold streak, as he served up a grand slam for Gabriel Moreno‘s first homer and gave another up to Ketel Marte for a career-high-matching five earned runs. Yamamoto continued his (relative) struggles last time out against the A’s, as he allowed three runs and four hits in six innings. Yamamoto’s gone at least five innings in each of his nine starts this season and has gone six or more five times, so hopefully that trend continues and he gives the Dodger bullpen some much-needed rest. This will be Yamamoto’s first time facing the Diamondbacks in LA after two starts in Arizona. Last season in Arizona, Yamamoto tossed six shutout.

Ryne Nelson starts for Arizona. Somehow there have been five Ryne’s in Major League history. Nelson makes his second start of the season, but has made nine appearances in relief including one against the Dodgers 10 days ago. Nelson threw two perfect innings to wrap up Arizona’s 3-0 win in that game, and only needed 16 pitches to record six outs that began with the top of the Dodger lineup. Nelson had two awful relief appearances against the Cubs earlier in the season, allowing nine earned runs in 2 1/3 innings. He’s been pretty solid outside of that, allowing six runs in 24 innings against not the Cubs. Nelson’s lone start this season came against the Mets five days before he faced the Dodgers. He allowed two runs, three hits and four walks in 4 1/3 innings with both runs coming on a Pete Alonso homer in the fourth. He also took down two innings of relief five days ago against the Giants and allowed two runs and three hits in three innings. He’s only allowed three homers in 26 1/3 innings this season, but two of them have come in his last three outings. Nelson’s dominated the Dodgers over his four-year career, with a 1.50 ERA and .542 OPS allowed in 24 innings.

Nelson’s thrown his fastball 58.4 percent of the time and averages nearly 96 MPH on it. I figured his velo would have dipped a bit his start on May 5, but his 96.1 MPH average in that outing matched his highest of the season. He’s also thrown a cutter 16.2 percent, slider 12 percent and has mixed in a curve (8.7 percent) and change (4.7 percent) of the time.

Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman both get the day off. Edman’s day off was reported yesterday, but Hernadez’s is a bit more of a surprise considering he only came back from the IL yesterday. Andy Pages returns to the lineup after a day off yesterday, and Enrique Hernandez gets the start in center with Hyeseong Kim starting at second. Eugenio Suarez gets the day off for Arizona, with top prospect Jordan Lawlar getting the start at third. He’s started the season 0-8 with a walk and five strikeouts.

——

A couple updates regarding Shohei Ohtani and Tyler Glasnow.

Dave Roberts still didn’t have a date for Shohei Ohtani to start facing hitters, but Ohtani incorporated some breaking balls into his flat ground session today. That marks another step forward for him.

— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) May 20, 2025

Ohtani threw breaking balls for the first time in his throw sessions this season. There’s still no date for him to begin facing hitters, but this seems like a positive step.

Tyler Glasnow also did some light tossing off a mound today, Roberts said. The expectation is that Glasnow could throw a full bullpen session by the end of the week

— Jack Harris (@ByJackHarris) May 20, 2025