[jksander]

July 1, 2025: Noah Schultz (3-0, 1.88 ERA, 24.0 IP, 19 K’s, 0.79 WHIP) got a real challenge as we came into LA to face the Dodgers, facing off against Tyler Glasnow (6-3, 3.99 ERA, 76.2 IP, 90 K’s, 1.19 WHIP) as we hoped to be able to take down the best team in baseball. The Dodgers took the lead in the bottom of the second with a solo homer by Teoscar Hernandez, but Schultz wasn’t fazed, and he continued to pitch very well, getting us into the sixth inning when, with no outs and a runner on first we replaced him with Noah Syndergaard with the lead still 1-0 Dodgers. But Eisert came out in the seventh and we got blown up -- Miguel Rojas hit a two-run single, James Outman hit a sac-fly to drive in another, and Rojas scored off a Freddie Freeman RBI single to dig us a 5-0 hole. But in the top of the ninth we erupted, as Austin Slater hit an RBI single to get us on the board, Otto Lopez hit a two-run double, and then Chase Meidroth tied it up with a two-run single! Martin Perez took over in the bottom of the inning hoping to get us into extras, but the Dodgers walked it off with a one-out RBI single by Miguel Rojas to beat us 6-5. What a heartbreaker! Schultz had a great five inning effort, with two hits, three walks, four strikeouts and one earned run ... cut the walks down and he could have gone six or seven. The comeback spared him an “L” in the decisions column, and the loss went to Perez who is now 4-5 with a 5.34 ERA. We actually outhit the Dodgers 8-7, led by Lopez who hit twice with a run and two RBIs.

July 2, 2025: Sean Burke (5-6, 3.76 ERA, 79.0 IP, 79 K’s, 1.25 WHIP) started against Clayton Kershaw (1-0, 2.29 ERA, 19.2 IP, 14 K’s, 0.71 WHIP) in game two, with Kershaw still trying to come back fully from a pair of minor injuries that have kept him from being more than a spot starter this year so far. And LA wasted no time, putting up seven runs on us in the bottom of the second. Burke was replaced by Jonathan Cannon in the bottom of the third, trailing 7-0, but the game was a rout from there. We picked up five runs in the eighth and ninth, but by then the game was well out of reach as they crushed us 11-5. They only outhit us 11-10, but Burke’s two innings were a disaster -- seven hits, two walks and EIGHT earned runs, leaving our bullpen to clean up his mess. Lopez hit three times with two runs and an RBI, keeping his average at .348 through his first 53 games of the season.

July 3, 2025: LA’s been destroying us and we won’t even face their best pitcher (Roki Sasaki, 11-2, 3.67 ERA) during this series. Ryan Weber (3-6, 3.84 ERA, 79.2 IP, 51 K’s, 1.22 WHIP) pitched against Blake Snell (6-4, 3.74 ERA, 65.0 IP, 76 K’s, 1.20 WHIP) in game three of the series, and the Dodgers picked up where they left off last night, Shohei Ohtani hitting a two-run homer in the bottom of the first to give them the lead. But this time Starling Marte fought back for us, hitting a two-run slam of his own in the top of the second to tie it up, and this game turned into a slugging battle from there. Max Muncy and Tommy Edman hit back to back solo homers in the bottom of the second, but in the top of the sixth Miguel Vargas hit an RBI double, Austin Slater put us into the lead with a two-run homer, and Michael A. Taylor hit a solo shot out of left to add on, putting us ahead 6-4! Will Smith got them a run back with a solo homer in the bottom of the eighth, but Eduard Bazardo held tough in the bottom of the ninth to keep the slim lead and we won this one 6-5 ... there would be no sweep! Shane Smith got the win, pitching two innings with just two hits as he improved to 4-3 with a 4.82 ERA. Eisert got a hold, his second, and Bazardo saved his second game of the season, improving his ERA to 2.60 through 34.2 total innings for us and Seattle. They outhit us 8-6 and out-homered us 4-3, but we did the job, led by Vargas with two hits, two runs and an RBI.