The Dodgers (26-18) salvaged a rough homestand by taking the final two games against the Giants to earn a series split. The Dodgers had closed out their roadtrip in Houston with a 12-run outburst, then proceeded to score 12 runs in the first five games of the homestand combined. They won the first game against Atlanta, but lost the next two against them and the first two of the Giants. The offense woke up a bit with a 4-0 win on Wednesday and a 5-2 win last night. Today, they head up to Anaheim to kick off a three-game weekend series before heading to San Diego and Milwaukee next week. The Angels (16-28) have the worst record in baseball despite being just over .500 about a month ago. On April 17, they beat the Padres to move to 11-10, but followed that up by losing 11 of their next 12 games. They bounced back a bit with a 3-3 homestand to start May, but lost five of six on their latest roadtrip that took them to Toronto and Cleveland. Their offense has produced around league-average, but their 25.8 percent team strikeout rate is the worst in baseball. Their 4.60 team ERA is the sixth-worst in baseball, which is extra impressive when they have arguably the best pitcher in the AL this year in Jose Soriano. Soriano and his 1.66 ERA starts tomorrow. Most of those issues are due to a 5.27 bullpen ERA, the third-worst in baseball.
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| 6:38 P.M. | Anaheim | ||
| DH | Ohtani (L) | 3B | Grissom |
| SS | Betts | CF | Trout |
| C | Smith | 1B | Schanuel (L) |
| RF | Tucker (L) | DH | Soler |
| CF | Pages | RF | Adell |
| 3B | Muncy (L) | SS | Neto |
| LF | T. Hernández | LF | Lowe (L) |
| 1B | Rushing (L) | C | O’Hoppe |
| 2B | Kim (L) | 2B | Peraza |
| P | Klein (R) | P | Kochanowicz (R) |
Blake Snell gets his second start back from injury after a very typically first-half-Snell season debut. Snell got the ball against Atlanta and needed 77 pitches to get through three innings, allowing six hits and four earned runs (one unearned). Snell forced a ton of weak contact, with an average exit velocity of 80.5 MPH on 11 balls put in play. He allowed six singles, four of which had exit velocities under 76 MPH. Snell also generated a game-high 16 whiffs. Snell hasn’t faced the Angels since he was a Padre in 2023 and had another very Snelly start. He needed 100 pitches to get through five innings and allowed seven hits and four walks, but shut the Angels out and struck out seven as well.
Just kidding. But I already wrote that so I’m not deleting. Snell was scratched a few hours before the game and the Dodgers will use a bullpen game, starting with Will Klein. Klein makes the first start of his career and has topped out at 37 pitches so far this season. Alex Vesia and Edgardo Henriquez each threw scoreless innings last night but struggled with efficiency, needing 21 and 17 pitches to get through their innings. Tanner Scott also pitched yesterday but only needed nine pitches to close out the game. He did also throw 14 pitches on Wednesday, so I’m sure they’ll be trying to avoid him today.
Jack Kochanowicz makes his ninth start of the season looking to bounce back from his worst start of the season in Toronto. After a rough season debut in Houston, Kochanowicz allowed nine runs in 37 1/3 innings over his next six starts and pitched into the sixth inning in each start. The wheels fell off last time out against the Jays after a decent start. He worked around some traffic to get through three shutout innings, but loaded the bases to begin the fourth. He allowed a sac fly for the first run of the game and was able to work out of trouble to limit the damage. Things fell apart really fast in the fifth, which started with a walk, single and wild pitch to put two runners in scoring position. He allowed two more singles for two runs, then made a throwing error on a grounder for another run. He allowed another single for another run and got pulled for Mitch Farris, who got the first out of the inning but allowed a three-run homer for another earned run on Kochanowicz’s line (and one unearned run). Kochanowicz isn’t a big strikeout guy, but failed to record a single strikeout in that game. His 15 percent strikeout rate is the fourth-worst among qualified starters and his 11.5 percent walk rate is the fifth-worst, which is not an ideal combo.
Kochanowicz throws a sinker 39.9 percent of the time and has the second-highest groundball rate in baseball at 59 percent. He also mixes in a changeup (22.4 percent), slider (19.2 percent) and four-seamer (18.4 percent). He’s only allowed two homers this season, both off the sinker.
Freddie Freeman gets the day off, with Dalton Rushing getting the start at first today. Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts both return to the lineup hitting first and second, with Will Smith and Kyle Tucker hitting behind them. The Angels get catcher Logan O’Hoppe back today after breaking his wrist three weeks ago.
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Snell will seemingly be out for a while.
He joins Edwin Diaz with loose bodies in his pitching arm. Snell had surgery for loose bodies in 2019 and missed nearly two months. Diaz’s timetable isn’t clear, but he’s on the 60-Day IL so will miss at least two months. Future Dodger Tarik Skubal also had surgery for loose bodies in his elbow and his timetable is 2-3 months, so seems like the Dodgers will once again be waiting on second-half Snell. They did backdate his IL to May 12 and haven’t stated that he would undergo surgery.
Lefty Charlie Barnes was called up to replace Snell on the roster. Barnes pitched in nine games for the Twins in 2021 and posted a 5.92 ERA in 38 innings. He spent the next 3.5 years with the Lotte Giants of the KBL and posted a 3.58 ERA in 553 innings over 94 starts before joining the Reds’ minor league system last August. The Cubs signed him in the offseason and pitched three innings against the Phillies on April 13, allowing three runs on four hits. He was DFA’d on May 6 and the Dodgers claimed him on the 9th.
As for a longer-term replacement for Snell, River Ryan is considered a longshot.
River Ryan is “a possibility” to replace Snell in #Dodgers rotation but “a slim possibility” per Dave Roberts. Needs to build up after month on IL in Triple-A with hamstring injury
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) May 15, 2026
Ryan made two starts for OKC in April, but has missed the last month with a hamstring injury. He’d need to build up quite a bit as he threw only 63 and 56 pitches in his two starts prior to the injury.
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In other bad injury news, Brusdar Graterol suffered a setback.
Graterol’s back flared up and now he’s getting that checked out. His velo was down after getting a late start to his season due to some velo issues in the Spring.
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First pitch is scheduled for 6:38 PM PT and will be on SportsNet LA and whatever channel the Angels are on.