Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
In the rubber match against the Braves that was totally important cause it was exactly how any NLCS would go, so the Dodgers are doomed now that they lost 5-3.
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The Dodgers got off to an ideal start thanks to Cody Bellinger in the 1st. After A.J. Pollock walked and was picked off, Justin Turner and Will Smith followed with back-to-back singles. Bellinger then stepped up and parked his 42nd homer of the year to center for a 3-0 lead.
Tony Gonsolin was called up and started today, and he continued to look effective. He did get a bit lucky in the 3rd when Ronald Acuna Jr. hit a ball off the wall and pimped it, resulting in just a single, then got thrown out trying to steal second.
Acuna even got benched for it. Regardless, Gonsolin provided 72 pitches and four innings, allowing just one run on five hits and no walks, striking out two.
Pedro Baez took over in the 5th, giving up a double but getting a scoreless inning with two strikeouts. Then Dustin May took over for his first relief appearance and boy was it … a thing. He got the first out on a routine grounder, then issued a walk, single, and hit a batter to load the bases. Then he threw a fastball right down the middle to Rafael Ortega for a go-ahead grand slam to make it 5-3.
Oops.
May continued in the 7th, giving up a single against the shift, but otherwise getting a scoreless frame. Well, maybe this is just his Walker Buehler moment.
Kenley Jansen took over in the 8th, getting a 1-2-3 frame, showing a nice mix of pitches and notching a strikeout.
The problem was the Dodgers went 1-for-6 with RISP and couldn’t push a run across after the 1st, finishing one for their last 22.
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The Dodgers fall to 82-44 on the year and will now have a day off during which they will travel home for a six-game homestand. They welcome the Blue Jays to Dodger Stadium at 4:10 PM HST/7:10 PM PST/10:10 PM EST with Clayton Kershaw facing off against Sean Reid-Foley.
