Here an eight-figure salary, there an eight-figure salary, seemingly everywhere an eight-figure salary. There are not too many nights when you can point to a position and say the man playing a certain position for the Dodgers makes $17 million less this season than the opposing player at the same position.
This was one of them. The Atlanta Braves are paying Chris Sale, the nine-time All-Star, $18 million this season. The Dodgers are paying Emmet Sheehan a little less than $1 million.
You might not have bet on this outcome in the sports books or prediction markets: The Dodgers won.
Not because your home team has suddenly become a plucky underdog, even if the Braves (26-13) have a better record. The Dodgers (24-14) dented Sale for three runs in seven innings — one on a home run by Freddie Freeman ($27 million this year), one on a double by Kyle Tucker ($55 million), and one on a single by Shohei Ohtani ($70 million).
Final score: Dodgers 3, Braves 1.
Read more: Dodgers put Tyler Glasnow on injured list; Blake Snell set to start Saturday
“I know the guys think a win is a win,” infielder Miguel Rojas said, “but knowing that we’re facing (the team with) the best record in the league now and those guys have been playing really good, the bullpen showed that they took the ball and knew what they were going to face.
“For me, it’s a pretty good win, because it tells us we are ready for the big picture.”
Two of the Dodgers’ pitching stars on Friday arrived in Los Angeles together, in a little-noticed trade that now stands out as one of Andrew Friedman’s most underrated. In the fifth inning, Alex Vesia relieved Sheehan and induced a two-on, two-out fly out from Matt Olson, who might be the National League’s most valuable player to date.
In the sixth inning, Kyle Hurt stranded two runners on base to complete a scoreless inning and lower his earned-run average to 0.90. In 2021, Friedman acquired Vesia and Hurt from the Miami Marlins for middle reliever Dylan Floro.
Since then, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, Vesia has mentored Hurt.
Dodgers reliever Kyle Hurt celebrates after striking out Atlanta’s Mike Yastrzemski with two runners on base in the sixth inning Friday. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
“There’s just real confidence now,” Roberts said. “There’s always been talent.”
Will Klein, Brock Stewart and Tanner Scott finished off the Braves on a night the bullpen delivered 4⅓ shutout innings.
Vesia’s one-batter, one-out performance earned him his first victory of the season, with Scott working the ninth for the save.
Each team scored once in the second inning, with the Dodgers adding an unearned run in the fifth on the Ohtani single and a final run in the sixth on Freeman’s fourth home run — and first since April 6.
In 12 career at-bats against Sale, Freeman has two home runs. Teoscar Hernández is the only other player on the Dodgers’ current roster ever to homer off Sale.
For a left-handed hitter like Freeman, Sale combines a power fastball with a funky delivery.
Freddie Freeman, left, celebrates with Miguel Rojas after hitting his 100th home run as a Dodger on Friday against the Atlanta Braves. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
“He’s probably the toughest lefty you are going to face in this game, as a left-handed hitter,” Freeman said. “He’s coming from behind you.”
It is not that Sheehan outpitched Sale. But Sheehan pitched well enough, against a very good opponent and a very good opposing pitcher, for the Dodgers to consider this progress.
“I thought Emmet threw the ball as well as he’s thrown the ball all year, as far as stuff and compete,” Roberts said. “What he gave us was what we needed.
“I think it’s something for Emmet to build on.”
Sheehan fired his fastballs from 94-96 mph in the first three innings, and six of his first eight outs were strikeouts. His fastball velocity dropped into the 92-93 mph range in the fourth and fifth inning, and four of his final eight batters reached base.
“I think it’s just being more consistent with my mechanics,” Sheehan said. “Obviously, trying not to think about that out there but, yeah, I definitely wish I could have held it a little better.”
Atlanta’s Michael Harris II reacts after being tagged out by Dodgers catcher Will Smith on a throw from Teoscar Hernández in the fourth inning Friday. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
The line was good enough: one run over 4⅔ innings, with one walk and seven strikeouts. How long the Dodgers might stick with a pitcher with a 4.79 ERA could be determined by how long Tyler Glasnow stays on the injured list. Glasnow hit the IL Friday because of back spasms, so the question of whom the Dodgers drop from the rotation to make room for Blake Snell is moot for now. The Dodgers plan to activate Snell from the injured list Saturday and start him against the Braves.
The Dodgers hope to activate shortstop Mookie Betts from the IL Monday, and the question of whom the Dodgers drop from their roster could be determined in part by the status of Rojas, who left the game in the eighth inning.
Rojas slipped getting out of the batter’s box in the second inning and said he had “kind of a dead leg” sensation after being hit while taking a throw at shortstop in the sixth. He said he expected to be “fine” going forward.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
