LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers did not have Shohei Ohtani in the lineup Wednesday night. They did not need him. Emmet Sheehan gutted through six innings of traffic, Teoscar Hernandez put on a one-man show with three doubles, and a four-run sixth inning blew the game open and sent Los Angeles to a 5-2 series-splitting win over the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers enter a nine-game road trip with back-to-back wins and some genuine momentum after crawling out of a four-game losing streak. Friday, they open a three-game set in Anaheim against the Angels.
Smith Gets the Party Started
With Ohtani sitting on a scheduled day off, Will Smith stepped into the DH spot and wasted no time making his presence felt. On the very first at-bat of the bottom of the first, Smith launched a solo shot to right-center off Giants starter Landen Roupp for his fourth home run of the year. It was exactly the kind of tone-setting moment the Dodgers needed without their ace in the lineup, and it put the crowd at Dodger Stadium right into the game from the jump.
Los Angeles doubled the lead in the second. Max Muncy worked a leadoff walk, and Hernandez followed with his sixth double of the season, a sharp fly ball to center that moved Muncy to third. Hyeseong Kim then laced a single to center to score Muncy and push the lead to 2-0. The inning had a chance to get bigger, but Miguel Rojas reached on a fielder’s choice that caught Hernandez in a rundown at home, ending the threat. Still, the Dodgers were in the driver’s seat early.
Sheehan Battles, Lee Stuns
Sheehan was steady and composed throughout, doing exactly what the Dodgers needed with Ohtani out of the rotation for the night. He worked through contact, picked up strikeouts at key moments, and fanned three of the first six Giants he faced.
San Francisco kept putting traffic on the bases, with a Willy Adames walk in the second and a hit-by-pitch in the third threatening to turn into something, but Sheehan escaped each time without damage. It was the kind of controlled, professional outing that keeps a team in a ballgame, and through four innings the Dodgers held their two-run advantage intact.
Then Jung Hoo Lee happened. With Eric Haase aboard after a walk, Lee sent a fly ball down the left-field line that kicked off the wall and skipped away from Hernandez in the corner. Lee never stopped running. He dug around the bases and slid in with an inside-the-park home run, his third of the year, turning a Giants deficit into a 2-2 tie in an instant. It was the kind of play that can flip a game entirely, and the Giants had all the energy after it. Hernandez could only watch as Lee crossed the plate.
The Dodgers went quietly in the bottom of the fifth, managing just a Rojas single before Freeman grounded into a soft out and Tucker struck out to end the threat. The game was tied heading to the sixth, and Sheehan’s night was running out.
Teoscar Hernandez Delivers Again, Call Puts It Away
The Dodgers responded the way good teams do. Andy Pages opened the sixth with a walk against Roupp, and Teoscar Hernandez stepped in and ripped his eighth double of the season, his third of the night, a line drive to left that put runners on second and third with one out. It was a remarkable performance from Hernandez, who was all over the field on both sides of the ball and came up huge every time Los Angeles needed a spark.
Giants manager Bob Melvin pulled Roupp and called on lefty Matt Gage, and Dave Roberts countered by sending Alex Call to the plate as a pinch hitter for Kim. Call did not flinch. He lined a single to right field that scored both Muncy and Hernandez, and just like that the Dodgers had a 4-2 lead and all the momentum.
Rojas followed with a base hit to center that brought in Call and stretched it to 5-2, and the crowd that had gone quiet after Lee’s inside-the-parker was back on its feet.
Sheehan was done after six, having allowed two runs and kept his team in the game long enough for the offense to bail him out. Edgardo Henriquez, Alex Vesia, and Tanner Scott handled the final three innings without drama. Scott worked a clean ninth, striking out two, to lock down the win.
Up Next
Los Angeles takes a series split and heads out on a nine-game road trip that opens Friday in Anaheim against the Angels, with Blake Snell set to take the mound. After three against the Halos, the Dodgers travel to San Diego and then Milwaukee before returning home.
