Edman's 428-Foot Bomb Breaks It Open, Dodgers Roll 9-3
Tommy Edman went 4-for-5 with a home run, 4 RBI, and 2 runs scored as the Dodgers dismantled the Athletics 9-3 on July 1. The story of the night was a third-inning, 428-foot three-run shot from Edman that swung the home team's win probability from 26% all the way down to 9% — and the game was effectively over from that moment forward.
Los Angeles wasted no time. Mookie Betts singled to left in the first, scoring Andy Pages and moving Freddie Freeman to third. T. Hernández followed with a sacrifice fly to right, plating Freeman, and just like that the Dodgers led 2-0 before the Athletics could settle in. Oakland answered with a run of their own — Heim singled to right to score Langeliers — but that brief flicker of life was all they'd get for a long time. Jeffrey Springs couldn't hold the fort, surrendering 8 hits, 6 earned runs, and 4 walks across 5.1 innings, finishing with just 2 strikeouts. That's a line that loses ballgames.
The killing blow came in the third. With Freeman and Tucker aboard, Edman launched a 428-foot shot to center that made it 5-1 and sent the Athletics' win probability cratering from 26% to 9%. That's not a momentum shift — that's a door slamming shut. Edman wasn't done. He singled to left in the seventh to score Betts, then came around to score himself on a Rushing single to right, capping a four-run seventh that pushed the lead to 9-1. Miguel Rojas chipped in with a 410-foot homer to left center in the sixth and added a sacrifice fly in the seventh — 1-for-3 on paper, but his two RBI and two big moments made him the quiet co-star of the night. Betts went 3-for-5 with an RBI, and Freeman crossed the plate twice, looking like a lineup that appears to be hitting on all cylinders right now.
On the mound, Justin Wrobleski was the kind of pitcher every manager wants when the rotation needs a statement: 7.0 innings, 7 hits, 3 earned runs, zero walks, and 11 strikeouts. That's a dominant outing by any measure. Wyatt Mills and Brock Stewart each tossed a clean inning behind him, combining for 4 strikeouts and no hits allowed. The Athletics got a cosmetic two-run homer from Colby Thomas in the seventh — a 424-foot shot to left center that scored Meneses — but by then the scoreboard read 9-1 and the game had long since been decided. Worth noting: Shohei Ohtani was not on the mound tonight, with the Dodgers having pushed his scheduled start to Friday for rest. It didn't matter. This was a complete, professional beatdown without him.