OAKLAND — Jack Flaherty understood the assignment.
Acquired to stabilize an unsteady starting rotation and give the Dodgers hope for a dominant start at least once every five days, Flaherty did just that in his debut, giving the Dodgers six scoreless innings and working his way out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth. With that, he helped the Dodgers end a three-game losing streak by beating the Oakland A’s 10-0 Saturday night.
Fueled by a post-game fireworks show and a steady flow of Dodgers fans looking to check Oakland Coliseum off their bucket list before it’s too late, the game drew 35,047. It was the A’s largest crowd since last August — even larger than the crowd on hand next door at Oakland Arena for a Monster Jam event.
They witnessed some history. With three stolen bases, Shohei Ohtani became only the third player in Dodgers history to have a 30-30 season. Matt Kemp (2011) and Raul Mondesi (1997 and 1999) did it previously. There have been 70 30-30 seasons in MLB history.
The Dodgers went down to the wire at the trade deadline before sending two minor-league prospects (Triple-A shortstop Trey Sweeney and Class-A catcher Thayron Liranzo) to the Detroit Tigers for the best starting pitcher to change teams this week.
Flaherty hadn’t pitched in nine days while awaiting his fate. Whether it was that or the nerves of trying to make a good first impression, Flaherty gave up back-to-back singles to start his Dodger debut. Neither was hard-hit and Flaherty extricated himself from trouble with a pop foul and two strikeouts.
While Flaherty was breezing through the A’s lineup over the next four innings. The Dodgers staked him to a slim lead with a two-out rally in the third inning.
Cavan Biggio lit the fire with a leadoff walk. After Nick Ahmed and Ohtani struck out, Teoscar Hernandez dropped a bloop double into no-man’s land beyond first base. Gavin Lux stroked an opposite-field single to score them both.
Flaherty’s stroll through the A’s lineup ended in the sixth inning when he and Biggio failed to hook up on a play at first base. A bloop single and a walk followed the error by Biggio and loaded the bases with no outs.
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Flaherty went to work. He got Shea Langeliers to chop a ground ball to Kike’ Hernandez at third base. Hernandez threw home for the force out. Flaherty struck out Seth Brown for the second out then got Abraham Toro on a grounder to shortstop to end the threat.
His 99th pitch of the game put the finishing touches on Flaherty’s debut. He allowed five hits and walked one while striking out seven.
The Dodgers doubled that 2-0 lead in the eighth inning when Jason Heyward walked and scored from first on Kike’ Hernandez’s double into the left-field corner. Andy Pages drove Hernandez in with a single.
They put it away with a six-run burst, sending 10 batters to the plate in the ninth inning.
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