Tucker walks it off, Ohtani's a late scratch, and the rotation depth keeps looking like a problem that isn't — welcome to April in Chavez Ravine. This is Dodgers Today — we've got a walk-off win, a mystery around Ohtani's lineup scratch, and some arm news you'll want to hear. Marlins on the ropes, Tucker delivering — honestly a perfect Tuesday. Let's not sleep on the pitching situation either — Wrobleski's making some bullpen decisions very complicated, and Ryan and Stone are still question marks. First up, Steve Webb has the game story:
After a pretty poor first month in Dodger blue, Tucker came through in the biggest way on Monday night. With the Dodgers trailing by one and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, Tucker ripped a two-out single into center field to score the winning runs in a thrilling come-from-behind 5-4 win over Miami.
Kyle Tucker, walk-off single, ninth inning — Dodgers take it five to four over Miami. Credit to Steve Webb for the write-up. Yamamoto struggled with command in the middle innings, the pen covered four frames, and Tucker delivered when it counted. Welcome to LA, Kyle Tucker — finally! The man has been grinding through a rough April and he picks THAT moment to break out? Walk-off single with two outs? I'm not crying, you're crying. For the record, it's late April. One walk-off doesn't erase a rough month, but it's a good sign the lineup is starting to click. Cassidy, can you just let me have ONE night? And Dodgers fans on Reddit were, uh, very ready for the food jokes. Over on r/Dodgers, with 677 upvotes:
FROM THE JAWS OF DEFEAT TO THE BELLY OF PANDA EXPRESS
From the jaws of defeat to the belly of Panda Express — that is the most Dodger Stadium sentence ever written. Whoever posted that is a poet. Meanwhile, over on r/baseball — this one had 1,010 upvotes:
Dodgers fans finally get something to go their way.
R-slash-baseball dropping a 'finally' on Dodgers fans — this is a team that has won consistently for a decade. The persecution complex from other fan bases is genuinely impressive. Envy. Pure envy. They can't help themselves. One more from r/baseball, this one at 293 upvotes:
God, their lineup is a gauntlet. The fuck are you supposed to do with all those assholes? Well...besides not walk the bases loaded.
A gauntlet! THEY CALLED IT A GAUNTLET! This is the respect we deserve and I will be screenshotting this forever. The poster also noted, correctly, that you don't walk the bases loaded against this lineup. Miami did. That's how you end up on the wrong side of a Tucker walk-off. Now, injury news. Bill Plunkett at the Orange County Register has the details:
Edwin Diaz wasn’t surprised when an MRI a little over a week ago revealed loose bodies in his right elbow. He’d been living with them for awhile. The surprise was that they had finally started affecting him. “They always were showing up there. That’s something a lot of pitchers have. Every pitcher has something in his arm,” Diaz said Monday afternoon, stitches and a bandage now on that elbow after surgery to remove “five loose bodies.”
Edwin Diaz is out after elbow surgery — five loose bodies removed — and this one's a bit of a twist, because the Dodgers originally thought the issue was his knee. Credit to Bill Plunkett at the OC Register for getting the detail on the surgery and the timeline. Wait, they were chasing the wrong body part? The knee was a red herring? That's not exactly a confidence-builder for the medical staff, Cass. Diaz says he's a hundred percent confident he'll be back at full strength in the second half. No throwing program for a couple weeks. So we're talking July at the earliest, realistically. Every closer in baseball history has been 'a hundred percent confident.' That's the job description. I'll believe it when I see the radar gun light up in August. And on the Ohtani decision, Charlie Wright at Heavy.com writes:
For the second time this season, two-way star Shohei Ohtani will not be in the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup as a hitter, instead only pitching on Tuesday, April 28, against the Miami Marlins. Manager Dave Roberts told reporters, including Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register, that Ohtani pitching on five days’ rest led to the decision to only have him on the mound tonight.
Dodgers are sitting Ohtani in the lineup tonight — pitching only against the Marlins. Credit to Bill Plunkett at the OC Register for getting Roberts on record about the reasoning: five days' rest, day game tomorrow, managing the workload. I don't love it, but it's the Marlins — if you're ever gonna run this experiment, Tuesday in April against Miami is the time. And this is only the second time all season. Roberts has been careful with him. This isn't recklessness, it's the opposite. I know, I know. It's just — you take Ohtani's bat out of any lineup and I feel it. Doesn't matter who's pitching for the other side. On Wrobleski, Jack Harris at Yahoo Sports has this:
He felt he could be a quality MLB starter. And he was eager for an opportunity to prove it. “That’s what this organization is so good about,” Wrobleski said. “Having that conversation, free-flowing, where you’re able to say what you’re thinking.”
Justin Wrobleski told the Dodgers pitching staff last offseason he thought he could start in the big leagues. Turns out he was right — he's been dominant enough this year that sending him back to the bullpen is starting to look like a tough sell. I love this story. Kid raises his hand, organization actually listens, and now he's making everyone look smart. This is why the Dodgers are built different right now. Worth noting — this comes from Yahoo Sports, not exactly a beat reporter with clubhouse access, but the Wrobleski numbers speak for themselves regardless of who's writing about them. And Dodger Blue has the latest on the pitching depth watch:
“Somebody who is that talented, that young, coming off (Tommy John) surgery, we’re going to be prudent in the build-up and make sure we err on the side of caution rather than just ramping him back up to say, ‘Oh, River’s back at four innings and is an option.’ We’re just not gonna do that.”
Dodger Blue is tracking a couple of pitching injury updates out of the organization — River Ryan is on the minor league IL with a hamstring, and Gavin Stone is apparently also a name to watch. GM Brandon Gomes says Ryan is already throwing again, but no timeline on a return. Hamstring. Of course it's a hamstring. I don't want to spiral, but this roster has more guys in the training room than a college football program. Ryan's a Triple-A arm, so this isn't a five-alarm fire — depth prospect, not a rotation pillar. The article's a little thin on Gavin Stone specifics, but Stone actually matters if he's unavailable. We’ve got links to every story from today’s show in the show notes, so if you want to go back through the matchup notes, roster updates, or any of the bigger reads, they’re all there.
That’s Dodgers Today for this Tuesday. This is a Lantern Podcast.