Memorial Day, May 26, 2025
Copyrighted by Sarah Morris, 2025
With the midges (bugs) swirling on a cool Monday night at Progressive Field, the Los Angeles Dodgers swatted the Cleveland Guardians 7-to-2. Shohei Ohtani and Will Smith homered. Yoshinobu Yamamoto had six brilliant innings, and Alex Vesia, Tanner Scott, and Luis Garcia were awesome in relief. Mookie Betts and Teoscar Hernández had important hits. The Dodgers lengthened their lead in the National League Western Division.
Shohei Ohtani launched the first pitch into the stands.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto was perfect in the first.
Will Smith walked to open the second and was balked to second. On the ground out, Smith went to third and scored on Andy Pages’ single. Michael Conforto walked. Hyeseong Kim hit into a force play to erase Conforto and moved Pages to third. Ohtani struck out to end the inning.
Yamamoto was perfect in the second, including two strikeouts.
With an out in the third, Freddie Freeman singled but was left.
To start the third, Yamamoto issued a walk and allowed a single. A bunt advanced the runners into scoring position. A ground ball scored a run. Yamamoto struck out a hitter to end the inning.
With an out in the fourth, Pages walked but was left.
Hyeseong Kim made an error allowing the runner to reach first with an out in the fourth. A wild pitch moved the runner to second. Yamamoto issued a walk. A double play ended the inning.
Ohtani walked to begin in the fifth, and Freeman walked. Teoscar Hernández singled in Ohtani. Smith walked to load the bases. Max Muncy’s sacrifice fly scored Freeman. Smith got picked off to end the inning.
Yamamoto was perfect in the fifth.
With an out in the sixth, Conforto walked. Conforto was erased on a force play by Kim. Ohtani walked. Mookie Betts singled in Kim and moved Ohtani to second. Freeman singled in Ohtani. Teoscar Hernández struck out to end the inning.
With two outs in the sixth, Yamamoto allowed a double. A single scored a run. a fly ball ended the sixth.
To open the seventh, Smith singled but was left.
Alex Vesia relieved Yamamoto in the seventh and allowed a one-out double. Vesia issued a walk. Vesia got out of an inning with his good defensive play.
The Dodgers didn’t do anything offensively in the eighth.
Tanner Scott relieved Vesia in the eighth and allowed a double with an out. Scott finally finished the inning with a strikeout.
Smith homered with two outs in the ninth.
Luis Garcia relieved Scott in the ninth, and Betts committed an error with one out. He preserved the win.
