Dodgers return home to face road-strong Athletics

As the Los Angeles Dodgers return home from a mammoth road trip, they will play host to the Athletics, who have been playing a far better brand of baseball away from their temporary home.

The Dodgers went 6-4 on a trek through Atlanta, Miami and Arizona, while finishing their adventures Sunday with an 8-1 victory over the Diamondbacks.

Freddie Freeman had a home run among his four hits with three RBIs on Sunday. He went 19-for-40 (.475) during the team’s travels and hit four home runs with 16 RBIs.

Batting .250 as recently as April 23, Freeman is up to .376 ahead of a nine-game homestand.

“It was a long road trip,” Freeman said. “A lot of late flights. Late ‘get-ins.’ And to have a winning road trip, that was good.”

After an 8-0 start to the season, the Dodgers have gone 19-14 since and it might be much worse without Freeman’s production since he returned from a setback to an ankle injury that plagued him throughout last season’s playoffs.

“He carried us this road trip,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “He’s just been relentless. He’s just taking good at-bats.”

The Dodgers have not committed to a rotation for the series against the A’s, with Tuesday’s start possibly going to right-hander Landon Knack, unless Roberts elects to go with another bullpen game.

Knack (2-0, 4.61 ERA) was called up to start Wednesday’s series finale at Miami and delivered five scoreless innings with five strikeouts. He has never faced the Athletics.

While Dodgers pitching gave up 3.8 runs per game over the 10 stops on the road trip, the A’s allowed 7.7 runs per game over their homestand that ended with a 12-2 loss to the New York Yankees on Sunday.

The A’s are now 8-13 in their temporary home in Sacramento and 13-7 on the road where they appear to be far more comfortable. After he was rocked for eight runs in four innings, A’s starter Luis Severino aired his grievances with the minor league park the team is calling home for the time being.

“That’s something we’re going to try to help with and dive into,” manager Mark Kotsay said before the team hit the road. “Any time a player talks about this place in terms of being a little uncomfortable, we’ll have that conversation and see how we can turn that mindset around and create a positive mindset about what we’re capable of doing here.”

The A’s gave up 29 total runs in three games against the Yankees, who were the American League’s World Series participant last season. Now they face the Yankees’ opponent last October, who won it all.

Up first on the mound for the A’s is left-hander Jeffrey Springs (4-3, 4.81) who found success on the homestand when he allowed two runs over five innings last Monday against the Seattle Mariners in a game that still ended in a 5-3 defeat. It was the lowest scoring game by an opponent last week.

Springs has faced the Dodgers just once, back in 2018 when he had a two-inning scoreless relief appearance.

After Shea Langeliers had four hits and five RBIs in an 11-7 victory over the Yankees on Saturday, he had one of the Athletics’ seven hits Sunday. A’s rookie leadoff hitter Jacob Wilson saw a seven-game hitting streak come to an end Sunday but is batting .348 with 15 multi-hit games.

–Field Level Media