Lately, it has been all about the young pitching of the Dodgers that has stepped up. Wednesday night, Emmet Sheehan had one of the best starts of his career and the Dodger offense pulled away late to get their second win in Colorado.
Let’s get right to Emmet Sheehan, who was excellent in six innings of work in this one. He set a career high in strikeouts with 10 and the only two runs that he allowed were solo home runs. The key to Sheehan’s dominance was his slider, which was wipeout, and his ability to fill the zone with strikes. He didn’t walk anyone in this game and showed a huge improvement in command and poise. Granted, it was the Rockies who are at the bottom of the National League West, but you could’ve put any team out there and Sheehan would’ve worked the zone.
James Outman and Miguel Rojas led the offense with six hits, a home run and four runs scored combined, while the bottom of the order continued their hot streak. Aside from those two, David Peralta added two hits and two runs scored of his own.
What else can I say about Freddie Freeman? I could put him in my takeaways yet again, but we are going to settle with a dedicated paragraph this time. Freeman finally reached 100 RBI with a three run blast to open up the game at 8-2. What Freddie has done at the plate has been absolutely sensational and after two strikeouts early, he finished the game with two hit by pitches and his 28th home run.
The Dodgers are now 98-60 and have 4 games remaining in the regular season.
Here are my three takeaways:
Another Day, Another Record
This is the first time in Los Angeles Dodgers history that three players had 100 RBI each with Freddie Freeman finally reaching that mark. He now joins Mookie Betts and Max Muncy in that trio. But, there is somebody else that is extremely close to making that four players. J.D. Martinez has 98 RBI and is only two away from becoming the fourth of that group. It still shocks me to this day to write stats like this considering the expectations coming into the year, so major props to all of those guys for stepping up.
Emmet Sheehan Joins Elite Rookies
With Sheehan’s incredible outing on Wednesday, he joined a great group of rookie arms that performed well in this series. Pepiot went six innings and had a career high in strikeouts, Bobby Miller went seven innings and set a career high in strikeouts, and now Sheehan set his career high in strikeouts with 10. Those 10 strikeouts are the most out of this group which is the more impressive part, and I expect that we will see Sheehan in a piggyback situation or in long relief.
Miguel Rojas Getting Hot At The Right Time
With his three hit performance to match James Outman, Miguel Rojas’ average in the month of September is up to .309. That is the highest average he has had since May of 2021 and it is coming at just the right time. Obviously we would all love to see Rojas do this in a few weeks or so, but it is a great sight to see him get to a level where he has confidence in his bat right before the most crucial part of the year.
The Dodgers will send Ryan Yarbrough as the piggyback opener against Chris Flexen for the Rockies. First pitch is set for 5:40 PM PST Thursday.
