Emmet Sheehan takes the ball with the Los Angeles Dodgers having lost four of his last five starts. The Arizona Diamondbacks arrive in LA after a split with the Padres, and the matchup puts a recent Dodgers pattern back under the spotlight.
Sheehan’s last two outings
Sheehan’s last two starts were his cleanest stretch in the recent run. He pitched into the fifth inning in both games and allowed one run in each, both against the Padres.
That is the version the Dodgers need now, because his month has not settled into one shape. Over the past month or so, he has been inconsistent, with runs allowed ranging from one to six in recent starts.
Dodgers losses around Sheehan
Four losses in five Sheehan starts is the number that hangs over this matchup. It does not point to one simple failure, but it does show how little margin the Dodgers have had when he starts: even when he keeps games within reach, the result has often gone the other way.
Although Sheehan’s last two starts were solid, the Dodgers have still lost four of his last five starts. That contradiction is the real story here, and it is why his next outing against the Arizona Diamondbacks carries more weight than a routine turn through the rotation.
Arizona Diamondbacks in LA
The Arizona Diamondbacks travel to LA needing to solve a pitcher who has just shown both sides of his profile. Sheehan has held the Padres to one run in each of his last two starts, but the broader stretch says the Dodgers still have not gotten the same result often enough.
For the Diamondbacks, that makes the assignment straightforward: force the version of Sheehan that has bled between one and six runs, not the one that worked into the fifth and kept the score down. If he repeats the recent cleaner work, the Dodgers can at least reset the frame around him; if not, the four-loss trend gets louder.
