Emmet Sheehan shows growth as pitcher and leader in Dodgers win

LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers needed six steady innings from Emmet Sheehan on Thursday night. What they got was something more revealing, a glimpse of a young pitcher beginning to understand how to lead.

In a 5-2 victory over the Giants at Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium, Sheehan delivered his most complete outing of the season while quietly showing another layer of growth inside the dugout with rookie catcher Dalton Rushing.

The box score will say six innings, two runs, two hits, two walks and six strikeouts. Dave Roberts called it “his best outing” of the year. But the most impressive part of Sheehan’s night may have come between innings rather than between pitches.

Because while the Dodgers salvaged a split of a frustrating four-game series, Thursday also became a small snapshot of how much responsibility is beginning to settle onto Sheehan’s shoulders.

The Dodgers’ lineup already looked unconventional before first pitch. Shohei Ohtani had a scheduled day off after throwing seven shutout innings Wednesday night. Mookie Betts was also out after playing three straight games since returning from the injured list.

So Dave Roberts improvised.

Will Smith led off as the designated hitter, “America’s catcher” stepping into the Ohtani role for a night, and immediately looked comfortable there. On the fourth pitch he saw from Landen Roupp, Smith launched a 93 mph sinker the other way for a leadoff home run.

The Dodgers added another run in the second when Hyeseong Kim, mired in an 0-for-12 skid entering the night, lined an RBI single.

That was all the support Sheehan needed early.

For four innings, the right-hander looked entirely in control. His fastball sat around 95 mph with life. The slider consistently disrupted timing. Giants hitters rarely squared him up. The first hit he allowed didn’t come until the fourth inning, a single by Rafael Devers.

“Just being more consistent with mechanics,” Sheehan said afterward when asked about his rhythm on the mound.

The answer sounded simple. The outing did not.

There was tempo to everything Sheehan did Thursday. He attacked quickly. He trusted his stuff. Most importantly, he never looked rattled, even after the fifth inning turned chaotic.

With two outs and a runner aboard, Jung Hoo Lee hit what should have been a harmless liner down the left-field line. Instead, Teoscar Hernández misplayed the ball badly, allowing it to skip all the way to the wall. By the time the relay throw arrived, Lee had circled the bases for a game-tying inside-the-park two-run homer.

In a matter of seconds, Sheehan’s clean outing suddenly had damage attached to it that didn’t entirely belong to him.

And yet, there was no unraveling.

That composure carried over into the dugout as well.

Dalton Rushing endured one of the roughest offensive nights of his young major league career, striking out in each of his first three at-bats. The frustration boiled over after his second strikeout in the fourth inning when he snapped his bat over his knee in the dugout.

It would have been easy for Sheehan to stay locked into his own outing. Pitchers often retreat inward during starts, especially younger starters trying to solidify themselves in a rotation packed with expectations.

Instead, Sheehan walked over to his catcher.

“He was frustrated, obviously with his at bat and I just wanted to let him know he’s good and we still have work to do,” Sheehan said.

It was a small moment, but not an insignificant one.

The Dodgers have long valued emotional steadiness as much as talent. Clayton Kershaw built his legacy on it. So has Betts. So has Freddie Freeman. Leadership in that clubhouse often reveals itself quietly, calming a teammate, resetting the dugout, refusing to let one inning spiral into three.

Thursday, Sheehan showed traces of that instinct.

Rushing eventually settled down enough to draw a walk in the eighth inning, and the Dodgers reclaimed momentum in the sixth.

Hernández, redeeming himself after the defensive miscue, collected his third hit of the night to help spark the inning. Then came the key managerial move from Roberts, who pinch-hit Alex Call for Kim with two outs and runners in scoring position.

Call delivered immediately, floating a bloop double into right field that scored Max Muncy and Hernández for a 4-2 lead.

“You try and play it out in your mind how it’s going to come out, when you might be able to come into the game,” Call said afterward. “If you put the work in, you have a chance.”

Miguel Rojas followed with a grinding 10-pitch RBI single that pushed the lead to 5-2 and effectively ended the night.

Tanner Scott closed it out for his fourth save of the season, continuing what has quietly become one of the Dodgers’ most reliable bullpen stretches.

But the night belonged to Sheehan.

Not because of overpowering strikeout totals or radar-gun readings. Not because his ERA dropped to a sparkling number, it still sits at 4.54. And not because everything went perfectly around him.

It belonged to him because for the first time this season, Sheehan looked like someone beginning to understand how to navigate the uncontrollable parts of pitching in the major leagues.

Bad defense happens. Tough innings happen. Young catchers lose confidence mid-game.

A starter’s job is to stabilize everything anyway. On Thursday night, Emmet Sheehan did exactly that.