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After spending the weekend in the city that never sleeps, the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers are spending Memorial Day in a much more relaxed environment.

The Dodgers will open a three-game series in Cleveland on Monday, one day after completing a set in New York against the Mets. Yoshinobu Yamamoto (5-3, 1.86 ERA) takes on fellow right-hander Gavin Williams (4-2, 3.94) of the Guardians.

Los Angeles dropped a 3-1 decision against the Mets on Sunday, committing four errors and saddling starter Landon Knack with a pair of unearned runs. Catcher Will Smith had two of the miscues; shortstop Mookie Bettis and third baseman Max Muncy made one apiece.

Superstar Shohei Ohtani accounted for the Dodgers’ lone run with a 411-foot homer off Kodai Senga, his 18th of the season. The reigning National League MVP is batting .295 with 32 RBIs and 11 stolen bases with a 1.025 OPS through 51 games.

“He’s having fun and that’s what the game needs, players like that,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said of Ohtani. “It’s just fun to be out there and watch him do his thing.”

Ohtani made bigger news before the game when he threw 22 pitches in his unofficial pitching debut for Los Angeles. He threw to rookie teammates Hyeseong Kim and Dalton Rushing, in addition to coach J.T. Watkins, in hopes of an official return in mid-July from an elbow surgery he underwent 19 months ago.

“If it works out as it should, he’s a top-end starter,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I’ve gotten so used to seeing him as a hitter, seeing him on the mound just solely as a pitcher, it was different. And certainly exciting for all of us.”

Los Angeles lost two of the three games in New York, part a swoon that has seen it go 3-6 since May 16.

The Dodgers’ schedule doesn’t get any easier with the Guardians, who reached the 2024 American League Championship Series, followed by a World Series rematch with the New York Yankees in Los Angeles over the weekend.

Yamamoto will face Cleveland for the first time, while Williams is 0-2 with an 18.00 ERA in two career starts against Los Angeles. Known as the “Big Rig,” Williams has managed only five total innings against the Dodgers, allowing 15 to reach base.

The Guardians return home after winning three of four games in Detroit from the AL Central-leading Tigers. It wrapped up a nine-game trip that started with them going a combined 1-4 in Cincinnati and Minnesota.

“This was a successful road trip,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. “I know we would have liked to won more games. But we ran into a lot of rain, just a lot of things out of our control, but the boys did not let it affect them.”

All-Star third baseman Jose Ramirez carries an 18-game hitting streak into the opener with Los Angeles, which matches the longest of his career. Ramirez extended it with a single in the seventh inning off AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal in the 5-0 defeat.

“We’re really happy with the way this series went, but Tarik Skubal was outstanding today,” Vogt said. “He’s the best pitcher in baseball and he showed it.”

–Field Level Media