Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
It was another hot one this afternoon, with the temperature measuring 100 degrees at game time. The bats of both teams were anything but, however, and this was a duel from the start. Fortunately, it was the Dodgers who prevailed in a closely contested game over the Angels this time, prevailing 3-1.
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The Dodgers and Angels played four scoreless innings to start things off before the game actually got going a bit.
In the 5th, it ended up being the Dodgers stepping up to begin the scoring. Yasiel Puig led off with a sharp single to the left-center field gap and Enrique Hernandez followed by battling for a 10-pitch walk. Both runners moved up a base after Joc Pederson seemingly tried a drag bunt, but it resulted in a sacrifice bunt in the end. With two down in the frame, Justin Turner stepped up and went with a fastball on the outer half to the opposite field, driving in two and giving the Dodgers an early lead.
Delivered. #Dodgers pic.twitter.com/xAGHIsvseD
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) July 8, 2018
Meanwhile, Stripling continued his scoreless outing in the 5th, and gave up his only run of the start in the 6th when Mike Trout bombed a pitch to center to cut the lead in half. Still, Chicken Strip gave the Dodgers 90 pitches and six innings, allowing no walks and just two other hits besides the homer while striking out seven.
Edward Paredes took over in the 7th, continuing his LOOGY duty by getting his man and exiting. Erik Goeddel was next up, and while he got a fly out to start, he then followed by issuing a four-pitch walk and using the next pitch to hit a batter. That prompted a visit from Rick Honeycutt, and it apparently calmed him down a bit, as he resumed throwing strikes and induced a grounder to escape trouble.
Just like last night, Daniel Hudson served as the setup man for the Dodgers against the heart of the Angels order. He started by getting a line out to left and then got a check swing grounder before giving up a single and exiting. Scott Alexander took over and he managed to not look terrible again by getting a grounder to preserve the lead.
Unlike last night, the Dodgers got some insurance in the 9th thanks to a missile to center from Puig, his 10th of the year.
Ninth inning launch. #Dodgers pic.twitter.com/5bzQcqvh5t
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) July 8, 2018
Kenley Jansen entered in the 9th yet again, this time trying to avoid a comical loss. Last night he walked Shohei Ohtani to start the rally, but this time he struck him out. Last night he gave up a single to David Fletcher, but today he induced a fly ball. He then faced Martin Maldonado, who didn’t play yesterday, and finished the job with a strikeout on a 94-mph cutter.
Much better.
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The win gets the Dodgers to 48-40 overall, and they are temporarily a half game back of the Diamondbacks in the NL West, but could vault into first again if the Padres win.
The rubber match of the Freeway Series will be tomorrow at 2:00 PM HST/5:00 PM PST/8:00 PM EST, with Alex Wood squaring off against old-friend-for-a-minute Andrew Heaney.
