Jack Flaherty made a splashy Los Angeles Dodgers debut, Gavin Lux provided an early cushion with a two-run single and the National League West leaders rebounded from a series-opening loss to thump the host Oakland Athletics 10-0 on Saturday night.
Acquired earlier in the week from the Detroit Tigers, Flaherty (8-5) worked six innings and combined with three relievers — including position player Enrique Hernandez in the ninth inning — for the Dodgers’ 10th shutout of the season.
The right-hander limited the A’s to five hits and saved some of the best of his 99 pitches for the end, escaping a bases-loaded, no-out situation in the sixth with the Dodgers clinging to just a 2-0 lead.
Flaherty got Shea Langeliers to ground into a force play at the plate, struck out Seth Brown and induced a grounder to shortstop off the bat of Abraham Toro to take his shutout through six innings, during which he walked one and struck out seven.
Michael Kopech, Blake Treinen and Hernandez, moving over from third base, each threw a scoreless inning of relief to close out just the Dodgers’ second win in seven games on their current three-city trip.
The mop-up pitching appearance for Hernandez was the third of his career, the first in a Dodgers win. He retired three of the four batters he faced.
A’s rookie Mitch Spence (7-7) matched zeroes with Flaherty for two innings before a walk and a two-out double by Teoscar Hernandez set the stage for Lux’s two-run single.
That’s all the Dodgers got off Spence, who was pulled after 5 2/3 innings, having allowed five hits and three walks. He struck out six.
The visitors tacked on a pair of runs in the eighth against the Oakland bullpen and then blew open the otherwise tightly contested affair with a six-run ninth. Enrique Hernandez contributed an RBI double and run-scoring single to the late uprisings.
Shohei Ohtani had two hits and stole three bases for the Dodgers, who out-hit the A’s 14-6. Enrique Hernandez and Teoscar Hernandez each collected a double, two singles and two runs.
Brown went 2-for-4 for Oakland, which was shut out for the second time in its last three games and 12th time overall this season.
–Field Level Media
