Friday, June 5, 2026

Copyrighted by Sarah Morris, 2026

Freddie Freeman slugged a walk-off home run, and Roki Sasaki pitched a solid seven-inning outing.

The Los Angeles Dodgers inched out the Los Angeles Angels, 1–0.

Watching Sasaki mature as a pitcher has been a pleasure since the start of May. He developed a splitter instead of a forkball, and the splitter enables him to locate it in the strike zone.

Sasaki dominated the Angels in seven innings. He struck out ten, a career high, while walking two. He allowed only two hits. His fastball averaged 98, and he could dot it on the corners.

The Dodgers’ defense was unbelievable. In the third inning, Miguel Rojas made an outstanding play. Mookie Betts, who made only one error this season, made a couple of brilliant plays.

Eduardo Henriquez, Tanner Scott, and Blake Treinen were sharp in relief.

The Dodgers couldn’t do anything offensively until the ninth inning. Andy Pages and Freeman had singles. In the ninth inning, Freeman ended the game with his seventeenth regular season walk-off hit, a solo homer.

The Dodgers received encouraging news before the game. While Sasaki was proving that he belongs in the major leagues, Blake Snell played catch for the first time since he had surgery to remove loose bodies from his pitching elbow. He said that his left shoulder and elbow feel “great.”

On Saturday, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the mound, the Dodgers will look to win the series against the Angels.