Tigers hand Dodgers their worst loss of the season

An unbelievable comeback by the Tigers handed the Dodgers a gut-punch of a loss on Saturday, 11-9. 

All looked like it was going to end well as the Dodgers held a five run lead going into the bottom of the ninth. After Ricky Vanasco struggled to begin the inning, manager Dave Roberts brought in Evan Phillips to close it out. 

Phillips ended up giving up a two-run home run to Colt Keith to tie the game and send it to extra innings. 

In extras, the Dodgers loaded the bases in the top of the 10th, but Freddie Freeman grounded into a double play on a nice stop by former Dodger Zach McKinstry to get the TIgers out of it.

In the bottom of the 10th, Yohan Ramirez came on and gave up a walk off two-run home run to Gio Urshela to win it for Detroit. An absolutely devastating way to end a promising day for Los Angeles.

The Dodgers are now 56-40 and in first place in the National League West. 

Here are the takeaways:

Offense Explodes For 9 Runs

The story for the Dodgers over this recent stretch of .500 baseball has been their inability to put both sides of the baseball together. Sure, they have a game here and there where the pitching and hitting both show up, but it is very rare. 

On Saturday, the Dodgers had 9 runs on 12 hits with 4 different players having multi-hit games. Unfortunately, that was not enough, but it was good to see the offense come alive. Shohei 

Ohtani was obviously at the forefront of the team's production, but seeing guys like Gavin Lux, Andy Pages and Kiké Hernandez contribute together is something that does not happen often. It is a shame it went to waste by the way of the bullpen. 

Shohei Makes History  

Many records have been set by the Dodgers in the first half of the season, but Shohei just reached a few milestones himself. 

He hit his 200th career home run into the right field seats next to the foul pole and also became the only player in MLB history to have 200 home runs, 500 RBI and 100 stolen bases in his first 800 games. 

He continues to prove why he is worth that 700 million dollar tag the Dodgers placed on him in the offseason, both on and off the field. His MVP campaign is one thing, but the constant threat he presents at the plate betters the stars around him as well. 

All he needs is a playoff run to add to his already stacked resumé. 

Dodger Pitchers On The Mend  

Yoshinobu Yamamoto has been out since June 16th with a strained rotator cuff and no timetable for a return, but there is some good news. He has started a throwing program, and has thrown twice already this week up to 60 feet. 

There was major concern about Yamamoto even returning before the playoffs with such a tedious injury to the shoulder, so this is fantastic news to get when the team has been struggling through bad outings in the rotation. 

Yamamoto had just been hitting his stride before the injury, starting in 14 games, posting a 6-2 record with a 2.92 ERA. 

Brusdar Graterol also has progressed to the point where manager Dave Roberts mentioned that we could see him back by the end of this month. The bullpen still ranks in the top 10 in the MLB, but major help is needed as of late, so getting a power arm into the rotation would seriously help. 

The Dodgers will try to win the series again before the All-Star break, with both teams going with a bullpen day. First pitch is set for 10:40 AM PST.