After yesterday’s dramatic walk-off loss, the Dodgers were greeted with more frustration today, both at the plate and especially after Tyler Glasnow limped off the mound. Things looked bleak, but the offense scraped across a run and the pen went five shutout to close a 1-0 game win and series win over the Rangers.
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For his career, Tyler Mahle has been a pretty back-end of the rotation type of starter, but he’s off to a hot start this year and that continued today against an underachieving Dodgers lineup.
After allowing just a walk in the 1st, he got a clean 2nd, and then faced some trouble over the next two frames. Unfortunately, he managed to work around a single and a walk in the 3rd, and then a lead-off double in the 4th. After that, he carved them up in the 5th and 6th, where he threw 14 pitches combined.
Mahle showed some signs of losing his excellent command in the 7th, but worked around a walk to end his outing with nothing but zeros on the board.
Maybe Mahle is breaking out at 30 or something but this is a pretty consistent 4+ ERA guy and he is just Maddux-ing them. Good lord.
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) April 20, 2025
On the other end, Tyler Glasnow took the mound for the Dodgers and looked relatively sharp early despite some traffic. He worked around a single in the 1st, a lead-off walk in the 2nd, and two singles in the 3rd without a ton of distress. He then looked dominant in the 4th by striking out the side, but it wasn’t without drama as Dave Roberts and the medical staff came out for a visit when Glasnow limped around a bit. However, he came out for the 5th and threw a pitch … at which point he exited with apparent ankle issues.
After this strikeout in the 4th, Glasnow was limping around and Dave Roberts visited with the training staff. pic.twitter.com/MeWZuBKC5n
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) April 20, 2025
Sigh.
Luis Garcia took over for him, getting a strikeout, issuing a walk, and then allowing a deep flyball to the track in left for another out. Anthony Banda then entered and got the final out of the 5th, then continued in the 6th, giving up a lead-off single but getting a strikeout as well. He then gave way to Ben Casparius, who got a pair of groundouts. As expected, he continued on in the 7th, cruising through a clean inning to make sure his only blemish was that one mess of an outing.
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Now facing the Rangers pen in the 8th, the Dodgers managed to scrape and claw a run across. Will Smith pinch-hit and singled to start, then Shohei Ohtani drew a walk to put a pair on. Mookie Betts then flew out to left and advanced Smith to third, and Freddie Freeman drove him in with a sacrifice fly for a 1-0 advantage.
Freddie Freeman with the Will Smith special to drive in Will Smith for a late lead. pic.twitter.com/D0cvTZGJXA
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) April 20, 2025
Tasked with protecting a one-run lead was rookie Jack Dreyer, who started with a four-pitch walk, but then knocked down a liner back at him for an out and struck out the next hitter. Evan Phillips was then summoned and disposed of yesterday’s hero/villain Adolis Garcia on three sweepers.
Evan Phillips sweeps away Adolis Garcia on three pitches to end the threat. Goodness. pic.twitter.com/Lqla7d2Y3r
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) April 20, 2025
After the Dodgers predictably failed to add on in the 9th, it was Tanner Scott‘s wild ride to try and end the game. He’s still struggling to miss bats, as evidenced by a lead-off single to start, but he got a pop out, a line smash out, and then Will Smith came up huge by throwing out Wyatt Langford on a very close call.
I really don’t know, which I guess is the point, but I’ve seen them rule stuff conclusively with less. pic.twitter.com/C1t9MQlpTm
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) April 20, 2025
I mean it could’ve been a lot worse when the offense is best summed up with this:
Max wants the juiced balls back. pic.twitter.com/KcJoUQP5kH
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) April 20, 2025
This is good.
Tyler Glasnow said he feels fine now. Was experiencing cramping in both calves. Has been drinking fluids but had similar issue come up last year in Toronto.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) April 20, 2025
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The Dodgers will have another day off tomorrow, traveling to Chicago for a weird two-game set starting at 1:40 PM HT/4:40 PM PT/7:40 PM ET. It’ll be Dustin May looking to continue his great comeback season against Shota Imanaga.
