LOS ANGELES, Calif. – In their first game of a three-game series against the Texas Rangers at Dodger Stadium, the Los Angeles Dodgers smoked their American League visitors by handing them a lopsided 15-2 loss.
The second game of the series proved to be vastly different than the first contest.
In the first game, the Dodgers powered five home runs and 14 hits against the Rangers. The game turned out to be one giant hit parade by the Dodgers, which got home runs from Shohei Ohtani, Will Smith, Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernandez, and Jason Heyward.
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— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 13, 2024
After flexing their collective hitting prowess in the first game of the series, the Dodgers’ lineup couldn’t get untracked and came up with just two runs and seven hits in a 3-2 defeat. This game was not about how the Dodgers lost, but who beat them.
Corey Seager, who led the Dodgers to the 2020 World Series, would be the bad guy for the Rangers. Seager played his first seven seasons with the Dodgers. A massive contract deal from the Rangers a couple of years ago was enticing enough to pull Seager away from Dodger Blue.
Cementing his departure from the Dodgers, Seager won a World Series with the Rangers last season. So there you have it. The defending World Series champions playing against a team many baseball experts expect to be in the final two at the end of the season.
Seager hit a three-run home run off Walker Buehler in the fifth inning. Seager’s homer proved to be the difference in the ballgame.
“He certainly deserves all the applause from Dodger Stadium. He helped us win a championship,” Dodger manager Dave Roberts said after the game. “He also deserved those boos after a three-run homer.”
So far this season, Buehler has struggled. He is just 1-4 since his return Buehler pitched five innings and gave up seven hits while allowing all three runs to the Rangers.
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— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 13, 2024
Buehler’s struggles are to be expected considering he had been recovering from Tommy John surgery to fix his right elbow before he got the greenlight to pitch again at this level. Before this season, Buehler’s last time pitching in the majors was back in 2022.
In 2021, Buehler was one of the more ballyhooed pitchers in all of baseball with a 16-4 record and a 2.47 era. It may take a while before Buehler regains the form of one of the league’s dominant pitchers he once was, if at all.
“You know, it’s easy for him to put his head in the sand, and go with what he’s always done,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after the game. “But the truth of the matter is he’s not exactly the same pitcher after a second Tommy John [surgery}.”
“You know when you’re pitching in big-league games, you have to find a way to get hitters out. And so, he’s doing a great job of checking his ego at times, to kind of appreciate the fact that you know, you got to let the hitters…the hitters tell you what needs to change, what doesn’t need to change. And he’s doing a good job. I thought tonight was much better.”
File Photo: Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler (21) held the Colorado Rockies to one hit through 6 and 2/3 innings in the Dodgers’ 5-2 win on Monday, Oct. 1. 2018. Photo by Dennis J. Freeman/News4usonline
Dennis has covered and written about politics, crime, social justice, sports, and entertainment. Dennis currently covers the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, and Olympic sports. Dennis is the editor of News4usonline.com and serves as the publisher of the Compton Bulletin newspaper. He earned a journalism degree from Howard University.