The Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers are no strangers to having controversy surrounding their rivalry. The animosity seemed to continue on Friday night in the holiday matchup between the two sides, as one of the Dodgers’ commentators made a reference to the cheating scandal from the 2017 World Series.
Dodgers Announcer Orel Hershiser Calls Out Astros On Broadcast
Early on in Friday night’s rout, it was apparent that the Astros were seeing and hitting the Dodgers’ pitching with ease. With Houston already up 4-1 in the top of the third inning, Cam Smith hit a double into deep centerfield, which would be followed by a Christian Walker home run.
"I don't want to open an old wound. But in some ways, they're swinging at these breaking balls like they know what is coming."
Orel Hershiser on the Astros during a big inning against the Dodgers. pic.twitter.com/15HeqcRLkc
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) July 5, 2025
As Smith settled into second base on his hit, Dodgers color commentator Orel Hershiser made the following on-air comments:
“I don’t want to open up an old wound, but in some ways, they’re swinging at these breaking balls like they know what’s coming”
The Dodgers were the primary victims of Houston’s cheating ordeal. In a practice that was controversially punished, the Astros were found to be tipping pitches by banging on trash cans, which there was plenty of evidence to support. Los Angeles wound up on the wrong end in the seven game 2017 World Series, with fans league wide holding an understandable grudge.
That spilled over into Hershiser’s comments. And while he didn’t directly insinuate that the Astros knew the pitches on Friday, he did make it a topic of conversation.
Astros Continue To Rack Up Wins
It certainly seemed as though the Astros knew when to swing. The game was a beat down, with the final score being 18-1 in favor of Houston, who hit five home runs on the night. The lopsided result was the home team’s worst loss ever at Dodger Stadium.
With the win, the Astros move to 53-35, tied for the third-best mark in all of baseball. Their lead over the Seattle Mariners in the AL West is now up to seven games.
The @Astros put up 18 in LA! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/SxR12HnoB0
— MLB (@MLB) July 5, 2025
As for the Dodgers, the loss doesn’t hurt them all that much in their current division race. They are still eight games up on the San Diego Padres in the NL West, and are two games better than any other team in the NL as a whole.
The two teams will square off in the second game of the series on Saturday, which starts at 7:15 Eastern and will be broadcast on FOX.
