Los Angeles Dodgers' offense struggles with 29 strikeouts over recent 3 games; Freeman calmly responds after hitting first home run.

The Los Angeles Dodgers struck out 12 times today against the Cleveland Guardians, setting a new season worst single-game record, and ultimately lost 1-4. Veteran 36-year-old Freddie Freeman, who hit a solo home run in the ninth inning, said after the game: "The season is still long, it's only the first week, I'm not worried at all."

The Dodgers concluded their opening six-game homestand. They swept the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first three games, totaling 15 strikeouts. In the subsequent series against the Guardians, they started Roki Sasaki, Shohei Ohtani, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Except for Ohtani who secured a win yesterday, Yamamoto and Sasaki both suffered their first losses of the season. Over these three games, the lineup combined for 29 strikeouts and scored only 7 runs.

Guardians' 26-year-old right-handed pitcher Gavin Williams started today, pitching seven innings with only two hits allowed and no runs, striking out 10 batters and completely suppressing the Dodgers' offense. The Dodgers only broke through in the ninth inning with two outs, thanks to Freeman's solo home run, which was also his first homer of the season. Freeman's career 369 home runs rank sixth among active players, behind New York Yankees' Aaron Judge (370 homers) and San Diego Padres' Manny Machado (369 homers).

In today's starting lineup, five Dodgers players were struck out at least twice, with catcher Will Smith suffering 3 strikeouts being the most dismal. Freeman was not struck out, but had zero hits in his first three at-bats until he homered in the ninth inning, helping the Dodgers avoid a shutout. He said: "The timing was a bit off in the earlier swings, the last swing was clearly much better."

Freeman stated that baseball is a very difficult sport, and anyone can encounter trouble when playing. The Dodgers remain a strong team, but the hitting hasn't yet clicked; he is completely unconcerned.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts also said that many players seem to be not in good form currently, but he believes they can get back on track and perform as expected.