Max Muncy was not in the lineup tonight. Neither was Teoscar Hernandez. The Dodgers were running Santiago Espinal at third base against a left-hander in a 0-0 game through eight innings. And then Freddie Freeman hit a ball to center field in the bottom of the ninth and the whole thing was over. Some nights it is that simple.

Roki Sasaki threw eight innings of shutout baseball. That is the context for everything else.

Worth Remembering

Freddie Freeman hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth off Angels reliever Kenley Yates. One pitch. One swing. A WPA of +.363, the single largest swing of the game by a wide margin. It was his tenth home run of the season. The Dodgers were 0-for-nothing in scoring chances all night and then Freeman ended it in one at-bat.

He was 0-for-3 before that. His night on paper looked like everyone else’s. Then it did not.

Worth Forgetting

The Dodgers offense was genuinely bad tonight. Through eight innings they had managed a Freddie Freeman single in the fourth, a Mookie Betts walk that led nowhere, and an Andy Pages single in the sixth that he immediately erased by getting caught stealing. Will Smith struck out with runners on first and third in the fourth inning, dropping win probability by six points in a tie game. That was the Dodgers’ best chance before the ninth and they came away with nothing.

Against a left-hander with a banged-up lineup this was not surprising. It was still ugly.

Where It All Went Wrong

It did not. For once.

The closest the Angels came to taking the lead was in the eighth inning. Edgardo Henriquez was pitching with two outs and a runner on second when Mike Trout came up in a leverage situation of 2.75, the highest of the game to that point. Henriquez struck him out. That was the game. Blake Treinen came in and got Oswald Peraza to ground out to end the ninth for the Angels and then Freeman did the rest.

The real turning point was Sasaki. Eight innings. Zero runs. Seven strikeouts against a lineup that includes Mike Trout. He stranded a runner in scoring position in the fifth and got out of a stolen base threat in the sixth. His night was the foundation everything else was built on.

Up Next

The Dodgers and Angels play again tomorrow, Saturday June 6 at 7:10 PM PST at Dodger Stadium. Probable starters TBD for both sides.