Dodgers Recap: Sheehan Makes a Bid for October with Brilliant Start in Loss to Giants

CHAVEZ RAVINE — Emmet Sheehan is not the first name you think about when you hear the words “Dodger Starting Rotation.” He might not even be the sixth name you think about. However, with his start on Sunday in the LA home finale, he made a case to move up the depth chart considerably.

Sheehan pitched seven brilliant innings in the Dodgers’ 1-0 victory over the Giants as Los Angeles secured the sweep over San Francisco. 84 pitches. One hit. No walks. Ten Strikeouts. It’s the kind of outing that makes you think that he has a place, not just on the postseason roster, but in the heart of the Dodgers’ October pitching plans.

Unfortunately, he picked a bad day to do it. Giants prospect Trevor McDonald, in his first big league start, matched Sheehan pitch for pitch for the first six innings of the game. The Dodgers scratched out a couple of hits versus the 24-year-old righthander, but couldn’t mount anything that resembled a rally.

Until the bottom of the seventh. With Sheehan having already received backslaps and attaboys from the bench, the Dodgers started a rally with a walk from Max Muncy and and an Andy Pages single, setting up Michael Conforto with an RBI chance. Conforto ripped a single off McDonald to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead. Unfortunately, the next hitter, pinch hitter Tommy Edman, would line into a double play, ending the the threat and sending the game to the bullpen with a slim one-run lead.

And, yeah, things didn’t go well after that. To be fair, the three runs scored in the inning can’t all be blamed on Blake Treinen. A couple of dribblers went for hits, and Patrick Bailey’s run-scoring double came within a couple of inches of being foul. But, game of inches, as they say. And the inches didn’t favor the Boys in Blue in this one. By the time Alex Vesia came in and put a merciful end to the inning the Dodgers found themselves in a 1-3 hole.

Dalton Rushing started the eight with a solid single to right. However, Shohei Ohtani struck out on a high heater. Mookie gave one a ride, but it died in centerfield. And, when Freddie Freeman grounded into a force, it looked like the Dodgers may have missed their best chance to score.

In fact that was just the case, the ninth inning didn’t amount to much and the Dodgers came within six outs of a sweep. And once again, the all-time series between these two storied franchises is deadlocked at 1288 wins apiece. We’ll have to wait until next season to retake the lead.

After an off day on Monday, the Dodgers will try to secure the division with a trip to Arizona. Shohei Ohtani will take the mound on Tuesday night, followed by Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. With the Padres winning the series in Chicago, the magic number is stuck on three. It WILL happen, Dodger fans. The only question is when the champagne eventually flows. Stay tuned!

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