Efficient Outing by Justin Wrobleski Lifts Dodgers Past Rays

An unexpected pitching matchup occurred Tuesday night as Los Angeles Dodgers southpaw Justin Wrobleski and Tampa Bay Rays righty Drew Rasmussen exchanged punches. 

In the end, it was Los Angeles that came away with the narrow 1-0 victory over Tampa Bay in a game that lasted just one hour and 52 minutes. It not only secured the series win for the Dodgers, but also notched the club's ninth shutout victory (leading all of MLB). 

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"The pace of play was great. There was a rhythm to it," skipper Dave Roberts told reporters in the postgame. "To win an old-school baseball game, 1-0, under two hours, really fun baseball game to be a part of." 

For Wrobleski, a lot of factors were in play coming into this start. For one, he was coming off a hamstring contusion that he suffered in his outing against the Pittsburgh Pirates when a comebacker struck him in the leg and he was forced to be removed prematurely. 

Furthermore, he was pitching on the traditional rest regimen and was just the second Dodgers pitcher all year to hurl on "regular rest."

Still, Wrobleski made the most of his short stint as he tossed six scoreless innings on just 67 pitches. 

"He was attacking all night," Roberts said on Wrobleski's performance. 

Roberts added that they asked six innings from Wrobleski and did not want to push him with the added regular rest. 

"He gave us everything we needed and it was just good to see him compete." 

His season ERA now sits at 2.72 across 79.1 innings. With that sub-three ERA, he is just one of four pitchers in MLB who have an ERA below three and a BB/9 of 2.0 (Christopher Sanchez, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Paul Skenes, and Wrobleski). 

Jun 16, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Justin Wrobleski (70) throws a pitch during the third inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Dodger Stadium. -- © Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

On the other hand, Rasmussen was on par with the Dodgers southpaw. 

Rasmussen had been on a consistent slew of games entering Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium. In his previous two starts, he had recorded seven innings and had given up just three hits overall. 

He continued his recent success against this Dodgers lineup that could only muster one run off the 30-year-old Washington native. 

That lonesome run would prove to be the difference maker as none other than Shohei Ohtani launched his 15th home run of the season on a first-pitch cutter in the sixth inning. 

"When he uses the big part of the field, there's no one better," Roberts said on Ohtani's recent surge at the plate.

Jun 16, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) reacts after hitting a home run during the sixth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Dodger Stadium. -- © Kirby Lee-Imagn Images 

From then on, the Dodgers bullpen began to pick itself up after a rough couple of weeks, recording another three scoreless innings to cap off the win between Will Klein, Kyle Hurt and Tanner Scott. 

With the win, the Dodgers win their third series in June. Ohtani toes the rubber for an early 12:10 p.m. Pacific first pitch start time. 

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