Dodgers end losing streak with strong pitching from Shohei Ohtani, Emmet Sheehan
SAN FRANCISCO — It’s over.
Shohei Ohtani and Emmet Sheehan combined to take a shutout into the eighth inning as the Dodgers snapped their seven-game losing streak with a 2-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants Saturday afternoon.
The Dodgers were outscored 52-17 in their seven-game slide, their longest since September 2017. But the first two games of this series in San Francisco have been decided by one run — the 54th and 55th one-run games played by these two rivals since 2015.
The Dodgers nearly ended this losing streak with a one-run win in Milwaukee Wednesday. But Tanner Scott’s sixth blown save of the season turned that into a walkoff win for the Brewers in extra innings. This time, Scott preserved the one-run lead and closed out a combined three-hitter.
Ohtani started to put things right with his longest outing since 2023. He retired nine of 11 batters faced in three innings, allowing a single and walking a batter while striking out four.
Three of those strikeouts came in the first inning. He also struck out the side in the second inning of his previous start, making it six consecutive strikeouts for Ohtani the pitcher.
He relied on his four-seam fastball against the Giants, throwing it 23 times in his 36 total pitches. The average velocity was 97.8 mph, down slightly from his first six starts (98.4 mph) but he still hit 100 mph twice.
Following Ohtani in the fourth inning, Sheehan took time to find his footing – but once he found it, he strolled through the Giants’ lineup. He walked two of the first three batters he faced before retiring the next 12 in order, throwing just 40 pitches in his first four innings.
Patrick Bailey broke up the string with a one-out single in the eighth inning, the Giants’ second hit of the game. After a walk, Heliot Ramos singled to load the bases for Rafael Devers. Alex Vesia replaced Sheehan and got Devers to fly out, a run scoring on the play, then escaped the inning on a forceout.
The pitching effort came with minimal support.
After breaking out for seven runs on Friday night, the Dodgers’ offense went back into sleep mode, scratching out single runs in the second and sixth innings.
Michael Conforto led off the second with an infield single. Andy Pages followed with a bouncer through the middle that Giants shortstop Willy Adames smothered with a sprawling stop. He tried to flip to second for a force out but flung the ball onto the infield grass instead, putting runners at the corners. Conforto scored on Tommy Edman’s ground out.
In the sixth, Conforto singled with two outs (one of his three hits in the game) and moved up on a walk of Pages. Hyeseong Kim dumped a single into left field, scoring Conforto. But Kim was out trying to stretch his hit into a double.