Los Angeles Dodgers vs Baltimore Orioles Picks and Predictions June 20th 2026

Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto back vs. Orioles after another no-hit attempt fails

The task for the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday night already was a tall one.

A walk-off loss Friday might have made it even tougher.

The Orioles will look to bounce back from a discouraging defeat Saturday night, when they visit the Los Angeles Dodgers in the middle contest of a three-game series.

Left-hander Trevor Rogers (3-7, 5.86 ERA) is slated to start for the Orioles against Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto (7-4, 2.52), who flirted with a perfect game and a no-hitter in his most recent start.

The Orioles overcame an early three-run deficit before squandering a two-run lead in the ninth inning Friday. Dalton Rushing delivered the game-tying RBI single with two outs and Ryan Ward raced home on a throwing error by right fielder Tyler O’Neill as the hosts escaped with a 6-5 victory.

Orioles closer Ryan Helsley, making his second appearance since a seven-week stint on the injured list due to right elbow inflammation, gave up a one-out homer to Mookie Betts and issued walks to Max Muncy and Ward before Rushing singled to right on a 1-2 pitch.

Alex Call, pinch-running for Muncy, slid home with the tying run as O’Neill’s throw glanced off the glove of catcher Samuel Basillo and skipped toward the Dodgers dugout and well beyond Helsley, who was backing up the play. Ward never broke stride as he rounded third and scored the winning run standing up.

“Definitely a gut punch — that’s why it’s 27 outs and no time limit in this game,” Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said. “This one hurts, but our group will get over it quickly and get ready to go out (Saturday).”

The Orioles don’t have much of a choice but to get ready quickly for Yamamoto, who almost made three bits of big league history against the Chicago White Sox on June 13.

Yamamoto retired the first 23 batters he faced to run his streak of consecutive batters retired to 45, one shy of the big league record set by the San Francisco Giants’ Yusmeiro Petit in 2014. His bid for perfection and Petit’s record ended when Betts, playing shortstop, misplayed Chase Meidroth’s grounder.

Yamamoto’s no-hit pursuit was broken up when Tristan Peters led off the ninth with a homer. Yamamoto, who finished with seven strikeouts, recorded one more out before departing for Alex Vesia, who got the last two outs in the 7-1 win.

The victory Friday continued a mini-surge for the Dodgers, who have won five of their past six games after posting a 6-5 record in their first 11 games of the month.

Prior to hosting the Orioles, Los Angeles swept a three-game set from the Tampa Bay Rays. The Dodgers sandwiched comeback wins around a 1-0 victory Tuesday.

“We’re just stacking wins,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “The most important thing is to win baseball games, but we haven’t really played well. I say that in a positive way that we’re still winning a lot of baseball games.”

The Dodgers won Friday without two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani, whose wife, Mamiko, gave birth to the couple’s second child. Ohtani posted the news of the baby’s birth to his Instagram account early Saturday morning, thanking his child “for being born safely.” He included a photo of the newborn’s feet sticking out from a blue blanket.

Roberts said Ohtani was not placed on the paternity list and is expected to play this weekend, perhaps even Saturday.

Yamamoto also almost threw a no-hitter in his lone start against the Orioles last Sept. 6, but Jackson Holliday recorded Baltimore’s first hit with a two-out, ninth-inning homer to begin a stunning comeback in a 4-3 victory after being down 3-0. Yamamoto didn’t factor into the decision after walking two and striking out 10.

Rogers took the loss in his most recent start last Monday, when he allowed two runs over six innings as the Orioles fell to the San Diego Padres, 5-2.

Rogers is 0-0 with a 3.48 ERA in two career starts against the Dodgers.

–Field Level Media