Dodgers notes: Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, sweep opportunities

[Los Angeles Dodgers]

Dodgers notes: Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, sweep opportunities

The Dodgers end their stretch of a baker’s dozen of game days in a row on Wednesday, with a start time 90 minutes earlier than usual, by rule. They are 8-4 through the first 12 games of this stretch, after winning the first two games against the Reds.

In the first 19 three-game series at Dodger Stadium this season, nine have been sweeps, six in the Dodgers’ favor. The Dodgers on the season entered the final game of a series with a chance to sweep 13 times this season, and have finished the job seven times, including 6-3 at Dodger Stadium. They had a previous chance to sweep the Reds, on July 30 in Cincinnati, but an eighth-inning rally by the home team dashed those hopes.

Shohei Ohtani started that July 30 game — he left with hip cramps — and will start again on the mound this time against the Reds, making his fifth straight Wednesday start, each of which came with an off day following, scheduled or otherwise. This will be the third straight time Ohtani is expected to be stretched out to five innings, a bar he hasn’t yet cleared. His last two starts have been choppy, allowing nine total runs in 8 1/3 innings, and was hit in the right thigh by a line drive last week in Colorado.

Freddie Freeman has doubled in each of the last two games, giving him 34 on the season. One more gives him four seasons of 35 doubles in four tries with the Dodgers, which would tie Steve Garvey for second-most such seasons in franchise history, one behind Babe Herman. Freeman still has four and a half weeks to get to 40 doubles, something he’s done five times previously, and twice with the Dodgers. If he gets there again, he’d join Herman as the only players with three 40-double seasons with the Dodgers.

There are also still four games remaining in August, during which Freeman’s seven home runs match his most in any month with the Dodgers, done also in July 2023.

In the last three games, all wins, the Dodgers have scored eight, seven, and six runs. It’s their first time scoring at least five runs in three straight games since a four-game string from July 19-22. It’s their first three-game stretch of scoring six runs since June 22-25. Their last longer streak of scoring six or more runs was a five-gamer from April 26-30 against the Pirates and Marlins.

Wednesday game info​

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Reds
• Ballpark: Dodger Stadium
• Start time: 5:40 p.m.
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

Source: https://www.truebluela.com/dodgers-...70/dodgers-reds-shohei-ohtani-freddie-freeman