Dodgers Week 2: A tale of two cities

After a rough last half-plus of the homestand at the plate, the Dodgers in three days resurrected their offense against the Washington Nationals, ushering in a weekend sweep to secure a second winning week in a row.

Beginning with a really good Friday in Washington D.C., the Dodgers battered Nationals starters in the first two games of the series, and even turned around a late 6-1 deficit on a rainy Sunday in the nation’s capital to complete the weekend sweep.

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Batter of the week

Andy Pages doubled, walked, and scored a run on Sunday, which stood out as by far his worst game of the week. He had five multi-hit games in a row, including three consecutive three-hit games through Saturday to fuel a week with 14 hits in 24 at-bats.

Pages had the Dodgers’ longest streak of multi-hit games since Shohei Ohtani from April 3-8, 2024, and the longest Dodgers streak of games with at least three hits since Pages himself did so last April.

Honorable mentions go to Teoscar Hernández, who had nine hits in 19 at-bats himself including an insurance home run Sunday, and to Alex Call, who did not play in the first six games of the season but reached base seven times in 11 plate appearances in playing all three games against his former team over the weekend.

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Pitcher of the week

Shohei Ohtani, who was no slouch at the plate with two home runs and a .967 OPS, pitched six scoreless innings in his first start of the year, with six strikeouts. The top three of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, and Ohtani have gone exactly six innings in all five starts so far, stabilizing the top half of the rotation. The bottom half expands to three members this coming week as Justin Wrobleski joins the fray.

Week 2 results

4-2 record
38 runs scored (6.33 per game)
26 runs allowed (4.33 per game)
.667 pythagorean win percentage

Year to date

7-2 record
54 runs scored (6.00 per game)
34 runs allowed (3.78 per game)
.700 pythagorean win percentage (6-3)

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Miscellany

Passing an old friend: Freddie Freeman began Saturday one double behind his former Atlanta Braves teammate Chipper Jones on the all-time doubles list, then hit run-scoring two-baggers in each of the first two innings against the Nationals. Freeman now has 550 career doubles, good for 32nd in MLB history.

“As I’ve gotten older, I do appreciate what I’ve been able to accomplish,” Freeman told reporters in Washington, as shown on SportsNet LA. “Hopefully I got a lot more in my future.”

Freeman began the season tied with Manny Ramírez on the doubles list and has since passed him, Alex Rodríguez, and now Jones. Up next on the list are Eddie Murray — Freeman’s most similar player from ages 21 to 32 — and Jeff Kent, tied for 30th place with 560 doubles.

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Transactions

Wednesday: Left-hander Jake Eder was acquired from the Nationals for cash considerations, and optioned to Triple-A. Jake Cousins was moved to the 60-day injured list to make roster room.

Wednesday: Right-hander Grant Holman was claimed off waivers from the Diamondbacks, and sent to the minors. Gavin Stone was moved to the 60-day IL.

Sunday: Mookie Betts was placed on the 10-day IL with an oblique strain, and Hyeseong Kim was recalled from Oklahoma City.

Game results

Previous reviews: Week 1

Up next

The Dodgers this week run the Geno Petralli gauntlet, first with a World Series rematch against the Blue Jays in Toronto before returning home to host the Texas Rangers in an all-interleague week, facing a host of tough starting pitchers. The weekend rotation for Texas is a guess.