Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Yasiel Puig had a hell of a day. Puig went 4-for-4 with a three-run homer, a double, two singles, and a walk. He finished a triple short of the cycle, which is a bit like telling your parents you finished 25% short of an A.
Either way, his double was a Puigian thing:
On the pitching side of things, it was a struggle from the start for Brett Anderson, but after escaping the first inning with only one run allowed, he wiggled out of trouble for three more frames. Anderson was assisted by plays like this by Joc Pederson, which robbed Yasmany Tomas of at least two bases and two RBI, if not a three-run homer.
That Puig fist in the air:
Unfortunately, in the fifth inning Anderson ran out of luck and gave up two homers for three runs, which facilitated his exit at just 91 pitches. Anderson finished his night allowing four runs in five innings on eight hits and a walk, while striking out three batters.
Despite the surprisingly mediocre start from Anderson (recently, at least), the Dodgers took the game on the back of their offense, which provided seven runs on nine hits and five walks. After Andre Ethier scored from third on an Anderson bunt in the bottom of the second, Puig provided a cushion by driving a three-run homer into right-center field.
In the following inning, Yasmani Grandal went deep to pad the lead further.
That lead began to shrink after Anderson gave up the two homers, and ran into more trouble as the bullpen got whittled down. Initially, Juan Nicasio entered in the sixth, presumably to eat up two innings. But after getting one out and allowing a single and a walk, he exited the game due to an issue with his middle finger (nail or blister, probably). Adam Liberatore entered for one batter and induced a fly out, after which Yimi Garcia fanned A.J. Pollock to escape the danger.
The next inning didn’t go as well for Yimi, as Paul Goldschmidt AKA Satan roped a double down the line to lead-off the inning and later scored on a sac fly to trim the lead to one. J.P. Howell followed with a 10-pitch scoreless (!!!) eighth inning, but Kenley Jansen allowed his first run of the season to the first batter of the ninth when Pollock hit a line drive over the left field fence.
But Kenley only did it so the Dodgers could win on a walk-off…
https://twitter.com/ChadMoriyama/status/608873088768344066
…and after walks to Puig and Gonzalez in the bottom half of the frame, “Singles Hitter” Howie Kendrick singled to right and won the game.
