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Dodgers’ offense stifled by Gavin Williams, Guardians

April 2, 2026

LOS ANGELES — One day after rain arrived at Dodger Stadium, a complete chill enveloped the Dodgers’ offense on Wednesday.

Early-season offensive woes only grew larger as the Cleveland Guardians made themselves at home in the brisk conditions with a 4-1 victory to close out a three-game series.

After sweeping the Arizona Diamondbacks in the opening series of the season, when the Dodgers had to rally from 2-0 deficits in all three games, they scored just seven total runs in three days against the Guardians.

Cleveland right-hander Gavin Williams put on a show with 10 strikeouts over seven scoreless innings, marking his fifth career game of double-digit Ks. It was the former first-round draft pick’s 65th career start over four seasons.

Andy Pages had three hits for the Dodgers, but the rest of the lineup was left to admire his handiwork. Shohei Ohtani, Kyle Tucker, Mooke Betts and Freddie Freeman combined to go 1 for 14.

Freeman’s hit was a shutout-busting home run with two outs in the ninth inning, his first of the season. Will Smith struck out three times from the No. 5 spot and flew out to deep center to end the game.

The only source of pride for the Dodgers was their place in MLB history by starting a Japanese-born pitcher for the third consecutive game. All three fared well, with Roki Sasaki giving up one run on four hits over four innings in a loss on Monday night, while Shohei Ohtani gave up one hit over six scoreless innings of a victory on Tuesday night.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto became the first Dodgers pitcher to make two starts this season and allowed two runs on four hits over six innings with two strikeouts. It was the first time he struck out less than three batters while pitching at least four innings for the Dodgers.

“That’s fantastic. I’m very honored,” Manager Dave Roberts said of the three starts in three days by Japanese pitchers. “These guys are three great men. They’re all different. But this is just a special time in Major League Baseball, certainly with the Japanese players that we’re fortunate to have, and players around the league of all nationalities. But yeah, it’s an honor to know that I manage these three guys.”

With Williams out of the game, the Dodgers got to work against Guardians right-hander Shawn Armstrong in the eighth. Teoscar Hernandez singled with one out and Pages followed with a double to put runners at second and third.

But Alex Freeland struck out looking against Armstrong and Ohtani struck out on three consecutive curveballs from left-hander Erik Sabrowski.

After getting just four home runs through their first six games, and all from rookie Chase DeLauter, the Guardians added two on Wednesday. Gabriel Arias hit a home run in the third inning against Yamamoto and Jose Ramirez went deep against Tanner Scott in the eighth.

More to come on this story.

Orange County Register

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Dodgers’ offense stifled by Gavin Williams, Guardians

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