RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Aug 12, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani (17) celebrates with second baseman Miguel Rojas (72) after hitting a two run home run against the Kansas City Royals in the third inning at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
The Royals made Eric Lauer work and had the lead twice, but it was not enough as the Dodgers’ three long homers were enough to win 4-2.
The early game was back and forth. Neither offense was able to score in the first, but then it was all scoring for a bit. Daniel Lynch managed to strike out the side in the bottom of the first and looked like maybe the experiment to move him back to the rotation was bearing some fruit. In the second, the Royals got the scoring going with a two out rally. Tyler Tolbert battled for a walk and then promptly stole second base on the first pitch of Josh Rojas’ plate appearance. Josh rewarded Tyler’s speed by singling to right and giving the Royals a 1-0 lead.
That lead did not last very long. Lynch threw a decent bottom of the second, but he left one pitch middle middle to Mookie Betts who crushed it to left center for a solo home run and a tie ball game. Mookie has not hit well this year, but against the Royals in this series this got him to four extra base hits, so if he gets back on track it may be the Royals’ fault. To the third. The Royals first base runner was Jac Caglianone who hit a grounder up the middle. It looked like Betts would throw him out, but the throw went wide and into the dugout putting Cags on second base. Salvador Perez followed that by hitting the first pitch to the right side slowly but in just the right spot to clear both the first and second baseman. It went so slow to Kyle Tucker in right field that Jac was able to get home despite slowing up as he approached third. The Royals had the lead again 2-1.
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In the bottom of the third, Lynch managed a groundout to start the inning, which brought up Miguel Rojas who slapped a ball down the third base line for a double. That brought it back to the top of the order and Shohei Ohtani, who struck out looking the first time up. He was ready this time as Daniel left a sinker up over the middle allowing Shohei to hit an opposite field blast and give the Dodgers their first lead of the night 3-2. This brought an end to Lynch’s night. Matt Quatraro called for Jose Cuas to come in from the bullpen. He got out of the inning with help of a caught stealing from Salvy. He would take care of the fourth as well.
Mason Black took the mound in the fifth for the Royals. The first batter he faced was Hunter Feduccia who got a pitch to his liking and hit the Dodgers’ third home run of the night and gave LA a 4-2 lead. Meanwhile, Eric Lauer had struggled to get through the first three innings had settled in and had a fairly easy 4th and 5th innings. Even pushing 90 pitches, he came back for the 6th and took care of Starling Marte and Carter Jensen with little drama. Isaac Collins managed to work a walk after the Dodgers lost their second challenge of the night leaving them without ABS help for the remainder. Another challenge quickly followed on a potential HBP for Tolbert, but Kansas City lost that challenge as well. Tolbert struck out and you would think Lauer’s day would end his day at 107 pitches with a solid six innings and a lead in the bank. He did come back out in the 7th to face Rojas and record one more out before being replaced by Landon Knack.
Luke Maile did take over for Salvy in the bottom of the 6th as the catcher and finished the rest of the game. It sounds like Salvador’s right elbow is barking and we will hopefully get more info over the next few days.
In the eighth inning, all the weird fly balls came out. Carter Jensen hit a ball sky high with one out and it was straight toward the mound. The pitcher, still Knack, thought someone would call him off, but no one did so it fell. Next up was Isaac Collins who also skied one this time toward the Royals dugout. Freddie Freeman tracked it and ended up falling down the dugout steps, though he seemed to be fine and stayed in the game. Regardless, the Royals managed to find no runs and continued with their two-run deficit.
Craig Kimbrel made his Royals debut in the 8th. Thanks to a double play, it was uneventful. It also did not matter. The Royals never mustered any more runs against Landon Knack who finished out the game. It was a sweep at the hands of the Dodgers. Hopefully, the team can have a better time in Anaheim before they wrap up this road trip.
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