The Los Angeles Dodgers will have some post-holiday lineup changes in store on Sunday when they chase a four-game series sweep against the visiting San Diego Padres.
After Shohei Ohtani got the day off Saturday, one day after he admitted to some right biceps discomfort, he is expected to be back in the leadoff spot for the series finale. Also on Sunday, catcher Eliezer Alfonzo Jr. set to make his major league debut.
Ohtani did not perform any baseball activities Saturday, with manager Dave Roberts saying after the Dodgers’ 3-0 victory that he expects his All-Star designated hitter to play.
Alfonzo was added as the backup to catcher Dalton Rushing on Saturday, with Will Smith’s stint on the injured list expected to extend through the All-Star break because of neck inflammation.
A nine-year minor leaguer, Alfonzo is in his first year with the Dodgers after he was in the Detroit Tigers’ system since he was 17. He replaces Chuckie Robinson, who was optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City.
“We didn’t know initially how long Will was going to be down, and so kind of the easy fix was Chuckie,” Roberts said. “And then as it became a little bit more extended, we just wanted to take this opportunity to put eyes on Eliezer.”
The opportunity is a feel-good moment Alfonzo needed with his sister and stepmother still missing following last month’s earthquake in Venezuela.
Eliezer’s first assignment will be to catch right-hander Emmet Sheehan (4-5, 5.08 ERA), who ended a four-start losing streak when he held the Padres to one run on two hits over five innings last Sunday. Sheehan is 1-0 with a 4.15 ERA in three career starts against San Diego.
The Padres will be out to end an eight-game losing streak when they send left-hander JP Sears (1-1, 6.97) to the mound. Sears has made two starts since his season debut on June 24. He has just one appearance against Los Angeles in 2023, taking the loss despite permitting two runs in five innings.
The losing skid is San Diego’s longest since it lost 10 consecutive games in 2013.
“It ain’t no fun right now,” said the Padres’ Fernando Tatis Jr., who had two of the team’s four hits Saturday.
While the Dodgers had five players named to the National League All-Star team — Ohtani, Andy Pages, Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy and Yoshinobu Yamamoto — the Padres had just one in closer Mason Miller.
Miller’s outing Saturday, in a non-save situation, was his first since Monday. He has not recorded a save since June 22.
Miller hit Tommy Edman with a pitch as the first batter he faced. Freeman followed with an RBI single after he hit a home run earlier in the game.
If the shutout defeat wasn’t bad enough, the Padres lost the series opener when they blew a six-run lead and couldn’t hold on to a three-run advantage to the Dodgers on Friday.
“Like we’ve talked about with the offense kind of this first half, it’s kind of got off to a slow start,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “I think by the end of the season these guys are going to have numbers that they’ve had in the past and we’ll forget about this All-Star break period and look at the season as a whole.”
–Field Level Media
