The Los Angeles Dodgers got Shohei Ohtani back in the lineup on Friday and got the power they wanted, but the night still ended in a 9-4 Red Sox Vs. Dodgers loss that exposed just how fragile the pitching plan can look when the bullpen is asked to carry too much of the load.
Ohtani, back after a day off for lingering soreness in his left knee, gave the Dodgers an early lift. He had their first hit, doubled in the fourth inning, later scored on a Freddie Freeman single and then drove a two-run homer off Jovani Morán. It was the sort of return that reminded everyone why he changes a game with one swing.
The pitching plan never settled
But the Dodgers’ night on the mound unravelled quickly. They were already using a bullpen game because Ohtani was absent from the starting rotation, and that approach did not hold up against the Boston Red Sox.
Will Klein struggled in relief and was charged with three runs over 1-1/3 innings. Cole Irvin, making his Dodger debut, was hit for six runs over six innings. By the time the game reached the later frames, the Dodgers had been forced to lean on four pitchers and had little margin left to recover.
That is the central issue here. The Dodgers can still score enough to make almost any night uncomfortable for an opponent, but if the pitching staff cannot get through the middle innings cleanly, the margin for error disappears quickly.
Responsibility matters with the deadline close
Dave Roberts has been clear about the need to stay disciplined rather than chase every single win at any cost. As he put it, “You just can’t chase every single win, every single night.” He added that doing so is “not responsible” and “not the right process.”
That is the trade-off facing a club with bigger goals and a looming deadline on Monday. The Dodgers need depth, but they also need to be selective about how they use it and what they ask from it night after night.
Andrew Friedman made the same point from a roster-building angle, noting that when teams face an acute need, they end up “paying 150 cents, 200 cents on the dollar.” His message was that flexibility matters, because it gives a club more room to be selective and opportunistic when the right move appears.
For the Dodgers, that is more than front-office theory. It is the reality of a game like this one, where the offence did its part but the pitching plan did not survive long enough to support it.
What it means next
The good news for the Dodgers is that Ohtani looked dangerous the moment he returned. The concern is that one big bat cannot cover for a pitching staff that is being stretched too far.
With the MLB trade deadline approaching on Monday, this loss felt relevant beyond one night. It was another reminder that the Dodgers’ biggest questions are not about talent at the top, but about whether the depth underneath can be trusted when the season starts asking harder questions.
Even Roki Sasaki, described as a long-term experiment that is paying off and transforming him into a reliable standout in the rotation, sits inside that broader picture. The Dodgers are looking for stability everywhere they can find it, because nights like Friday show how quickly the balance can shift.
