The Dodgers hadn’t beaten the Angels since 2024, going 0-6 against them last season. Andy Pages, Max Muncy and Teoscar Hernandez hit home runs for the Dodgers in a 6-0 win.
The Dodgers’ Andy Pages drops his bat as he watches the flight of his three-run home run during the fourth inning of a game against the Angels on Friday, May 15, 2026, at Angel Stadium.
The Angels had beaten the Dodgers in seven consecutive matchups before Friday – including all six meetings in 2025 while the Dodgers were headed to a second consecutive World Series championship and the Angels were on their way to losing 90 games to everyone else they played. Whatever voodoo conjuring made that happen has apparently lost its effectiveness.and resorted to a bullpen game.
That parade of eight relievers held the Angels to two hits in a 6-0 shutout victory on Friday night. Meanwhile, more troubling for the Angels than a 19th loss in their past 24 games, catcher Logan O’Hoppe left the game after five innings after a ball in the dirt hit him in the left wrist.
O’Hoppe just returned to the active roster on Friday Bullpen games were a winning strategy for the Dodgers last season – they were 8-5 when they went with the collective approach during the 2025 season. The key element, though, was not provided by those pitchers who had a 5.81 ERA in those 13 games. It was the offense. The Dodgers averaged 7.1 runs per game in their bullpen games.
Will Klein opened for the Dodgers and retired the first five Angels in order before hitting Zach Neto with a pitch and giving up a single to Josh Lowe. As the Dodgers’ bullpen passed the baton along from Klein, that second-inning single was the Angels’ only hit until Neto singled off Alex Vesia in the seventh inning. Neto was on base four times for the Angels .
Kochanowicz was almost untouched through the first three innings, retiring the first eight Dodgers in order. But Will Smith led off the fourth inning with a single and Kyle Tucker followed with a walk. Both moved up on a wild pitch then both trotted home when Andy Pages got the green light on a 3-and-0 pitch and rode a fastball out to straightaway center field for a three-run homer.
Three pitches later, Max Muncy lined an 0-and-2 fastball from Kochanowicz into the right field seats for back-to-back homers. Two innings later, Muncy singled with one out and trotted home when Teoscar Hernandez lined a two-run homer over the wall in right field. For Hernandez, the home run was his first since April 15. Hernandez has been the Dodgers’ hottest hitter recently with 11 hits in his past 24 at-bats.
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