Almost no matter what happened tonight, the big story would be the return of Emmet Sheehan to the mound for the first time since 2023, and he made it worthwhile by looking like he never left. Amusingly, he was only shown up by Justin Wrobleski, who piggybacked with him and finished the game with five innings. Meanwhile, the lineup didn’t do a whole lot with their chances, but the bottom of the order came up with enough damage, and Will Smith dramatically walked it off in a 4-3 win.
That’s now five wins in a row and a 5-1 record against the Padres.
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As mentioned, the big story was Emmet Sheehan, who honestly barely looked like he missed time at all. He ran his fastball up to 97 MPH and both the slider and changeup flashed plus and collected a bunch of whiffs for him.
He worked around a single in the 1st, and looked like he was going to do the same to a lead-off double in the 2nd, but he hung an 0-2 slider to Elias Diaz and Tommy Edman couldn’t handle a liner to give the Padres a 1-0 lead.
Díaz gets us on the board!
⭐️: https://t.co/ARilN7zMDX pic.twitter.com/ypls5HFyNv
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) June 19, 2025
But that was really it, honestly.
Sheehan rebounded with a clean 3rd and then struck out the side in the 4th to conclude his outing. A dominant showing in his quasi-rehab start: 4 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 65 Pitches.
Emmet strikes out the side to finish his outing! pic.twitter.com/Qrlt5Y2las
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 19, 2025
Emmet Sheehan returned looking impressive with six strikeouts over four innings of one-run ball. pic.twitter.com/yUOJmIdqxp
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) June 19, 2025
Unfortunately, he didn’t get any run support while he was in as Stephen Kolek faced just one over the minimum through four innings. A two-out double to (who else?) Andy Pages in the 2nd was it, as a one-out Freddie Freeman single in the 4th was erased by a double play.
Fortunately, the 5th happened, as Max Muncy led-off by lining a triple to right that clanged off the glove of Fernando Tatis Jr., and then that Pages guy again hit a sac fly to tie things up at 1-1. The rally wasn’t done, as Tommy Edman singled, Hyeseong Kim doubled to stay hot, and Dalton Rushing worked a 3-1 count before ripping a single into right to score them both for a 3-1 Dodgers lead.
A three-spot to take the lead! pic.twitter.com/pRqsM4V74e
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 19, 2025
Kolek rebounded for a clean 6th, but started the 7th with a walk to Muncy and then reignited some potential drama by hitting Pages up high to put a pair on.
Andy Pages gets hit again, this time up. pic.twitter.com/MIt9erlVSQ
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) June 19, 2025
Pages didn’t react much, so there wasn’t any mess, but it’s something to note.
After an Edman lineout, Kolek was done, and so against the pen Enrique Hernandez hit for Kim (eh) and lined out as well. Rushing then put together another quality at-bat to walk and load the bases up, but after missing two homers and grounding into a double play earlier, Shohei Ohtani struck out on a 3-2 pitch to end the big threat.
They had another chance after a pair of walks in the 8th, but couldn’t capitalize on that either, so they couldn’t get the insurance that they definitely could’ve used.
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Meanwhile, Justin Wrobleski took over for Sheehan in the 5th, and man, after a rough start to the season he sure looks like he’s found it in recent weeks. He cruised through a nine-pitch 5th, followed that by getting the top of the order in order for the 6th, and then got the 7th in order on 11 pitches as well (with help from Mookie Betts).
At that point, he was stalking in the dugout, just waiting to go.
lol https://t.co/O4Z11iua9x pic.twitter.com/nCWZK1Kufl
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) June 19, 2025
He continued to roll in the 8th, starting with a pair of outs for 11 straight set down, before giving up a groundball double down the line in left. No matter, he rebounded by getting a grounder to end that frame.
Wrobo is feeling it. pic.twitter.com/1qXAd0Krq4
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) June 19, 2025
With the pen relatively exhausted after back-to-back pen games, Wrobleski was allowed to continue in the 9th.
Things didn’t start ideally as he gave up a lead-off single and then induced what seemed like a potential double-play ball to Muncy, but he threw a bit low and was charged with a tough error when Tommy just … didn’t catch it, so everybody was safe. Another single followed as things went station-to-station and the bases were loaded, but he rebounded a bit by getting a Jake Cronenworth sac fly that cut the lead to 3-2. However, Xander Bogaerts then stepped up and doubled to score the tying run at 3-3, putting a pair in scoring position.
TIE GAME
⭐️: https://t.co/ARilN7zMDX pic.twitter.com/fEgoCnTXIw
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) June 19, 2025
Wrobleski was still left in the game despite this, and he miraculously got out of it, as he induced a grounder to the drawn-in Freeman to get an out at home, and then got another grounder to give the Dodgers a walk-off chance.
Another huge showing for him: 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 3 K, 74 Pitches
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Good thing they did, as in the 9th it was a pinch-hitting Will Smith that stepped up and made even the struggles of Wrobleski pay off with his 8th homer of the year to walk it off in a 4-3 victory.
THE BEST CATCHER IN BASEBALL WALKS IT OFF! pic.twitter.com/XvgBL60exu
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 19, 2025
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Padres getting eaten alive mentally.
This was not even that close, man. pic.twitter.com/hHH6x8Mqxa
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) June 19, 2025
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The long four-game series will conclude tomorrow at 4:10 PM HT/7:10 PM PT/10:10 PM ET, and will feature matchup that’s at least favorable on paper in Yoshinobu Yamamoto against Ryan Bergert.
