Dodgers Manager Defends Pitcher After Shaky Start
· Yahoo Sports
The Los Angeles Dodgers lit up the Washington Nationals 13-6 on Friday, a welcome change for an offense that was sluggish outside of center fielder Andy Pages.
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But the Dodgers can’t count on hitting five home runs every game, and they won’t always be able to quickly overcome a first-inning three-run home run like the one given up by starter Emmet Sheehan.
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Perhaps that’s why manager Dave Roberts was complimentary of the way Sheehan pitched after the first inning, only giving up one more run in the third inning.
“He looked like a major-league starter, and not a guy that’s cutting his teeth,” Roberts said, as reported by Maddie Lee of the Los Angeles Times. “It’s a tough lineup in the sense for a right-handed pitcher, there’s a lot of left-handed hitters. … I do think it was a step in the right direction.”
Mar 27, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Emmet Sheehan (80) pitches against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first inning at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn ImagesWhat Was Emmet Sheehan’s Performance Like?
Sheehan went 5.2 innings and gave up seven hits. He struck out two batters and walked three.
He was helped by four other Dodgers pitchers — Jack Dreyer, Blake Treinen, Edgardo Henriquez and Ben Casparius — who combined to allow four hits, two earned runs and two walks against three strikeouts.
Those two runs were allowed by Henriquez in the bottom of the eighth inning, when the game was already well out of hand.
How is Emmet Sheehan Playing This Season?
Sheehan has struggled in his two starts thus far. He has a 8.00 ERA, and advanced statistics put him near the bottom of Major League Baseball in some categories.
Per Baseball Savant, in the categories of weighted on-base average and expected weighted on-base average on contact, he’s in the bottom 7% of all pitchers.
His strikeout percentage of 37.5% is promising, landing in the 84th percentile, and he’s slightly above average in whiff rate and chase rate.
Other than that, though, Baseball Savant ranks his pitching stats in the 28th percentile or worse.
So while Sheehan is 1-0 — his first start against the Diamondbacks resulted in Edgardo Henriquez getting the win in relief — he’ll need to improve if he wants to keep stacking up wins.
Do you think Emmet Sheehan can perform better moving forward?