The Dodgers and Angels open a two-game Freeway Series Friday evening at Chavez Ravine, with Dodger superstar Shohei Ohtani expected to face his former team in a regular-season game for the first time since he bolted Anaheim to sign the richest contract in U.S. sports history.
Ohtani — who spent his first six major league seasons with the Angels before inking a 10-year, $700 million Dodger deal — enters the game second in MLB in extra-base hits (44), total bases (182) and slugging percentage (.615), as well as third in home runs (21), hits (94) and on-base plus slugging (1.006), and fourth in batting average (.318) and runs (59).
Ohtani went hitless in nine at-bats in four spring training games against the Angels, walking twice and striking out five times. He did not face Friday’s probable starter, Patrick Sandoval, who has spent his entire six-season major league career with the Angels and was a teammate of Ohtani’s from 2019-23.
Sandoval is 2-8 with a 5.24 earned-run average. The 2015 graduate of Mission Viejo High School is seeking his first victory since May 7. He is 0-3 with four no-decisions in his last seven starts. The Angels are 6-9 in the left-hander’s 15 2024 starts.
Sandoval is 0-3 with a 5.40 ERA in five career appearances against the Dodgers, including four starts. Friday’s game will be the first time he has faced them since July 15, 2022, when he allowed four runs on eight hits in 4 2/3 innings and was charged with the loss in a 9-1 loss at Angel Stadium.
The Dodgers announced Thursday they will recall rookie Landon Knack from their Oklahoma City Triple-A affiliate to make his fifth career major league start and first since May 19, when he had a no-decision in a 3-2, 10-inning victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
The right-hander is 1-1 with a 2.61 ERA. The Dodgers are 2-2 in Knack’s four starts.
The Dodgers (47-30) have MLB’s fifth-best record, second among National League teams behind the 49-25 Philadelphia Phillies, and lead the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres by nine games in the National League West.
They are coming off winning three of four games in Colorado in their first games since putting National League MVP candidate Mookie Betts on the injured list due to a fractured left hand.
The Angels (29-45) have the fifth-worst record among MLB’s 30 teams and are fourth in the five-team American League West, 13 1/2 games behind the division-leading Seattle Mariners. They are 18-26 since placing perennial All-Star outfielder Mike Trout on the injured list after the tore the meniscus in his left knee.
The Dodgers have a 10-game winning streak against the Angels, including winning all four games last season. The Dodgers last lost to the Angels on Aug. 6, 2021.
The Dodgers trail the all-time series 73-71, but have a 41-31 advantage at Dodger Stadium.
The 10-game winning streak is the longest by either team in the series, which began in 1997. The previous high was eight, by the Dodgers from Aug. 5, 2014-Sept. 8, 2015.
The Dodgers’ broadcast of the 7 p.m. game will be on SportsNet LA, while the Angels’ broadcast will be on Bally Sports West.