Pirates 4, Dodgers 3: Game Of (Many) Feet

Last night’s game came down to inches. Today’s game was decided by hundreds of feet. In the mid-September heat the ball was carrying out of Dodger Stadium, where the Dodgers eventually fell by a score of 4-3.

Mike Bolsinger started for the Dodgers and gave up two home runs. The first, hit by Starling Marte, carried into the aisle halfway up the left field pavilion. One inning later, Pedro Alvarez matched that with a nearly mirrored home run of his own. Bolsinger’s stuff is nowhere near overpowering, and as a result he depends heavily on his command. As evidenced by his three walks (all to Andrew McCutchen) and scattered hung curves, Bolsinger didn’t quite have it today, and frankly was lucky to only give up four runs (three earned) in his 4-1/3 innings.

There was also a scary moment on what would normally been a somewhat humorous play. In the second inning, Gerrit Cole lined a comebacker off of Bolsinger’s glove wrist. Bolsinger got the ball and underhanded it to first, but it looked more like he bowled it as it rolled past Scott Van Slyke. Van Slyke then threw home, trying to catch Francisco Cervelli at the plate, but his throw sailed into the stands. The Dodgers were charged two errors on the play. Stan Conte examined Bolsinger’s wrist, but he stayed in the game.

After Yimi Garcia finished Bolsinger’s fifth, Carlos Frias made his return from the disabled list in the sixth inning. He pitched two mostly strong frames. Frias was sitting 98 with his fastball, though he was still hit pretty hard. Most of the contact found gloves, but the jury’s still out on whether he’ll be a good reliever. It is absolutely an experiment worth trying, though.

On offense, the Dodgers managed three runs against Gerrit Cole. Carl Crawford led off the game with the triple, and scored in the opening frame. They added a second run in the second inning, but were held silent until the seventh when Van Slyke homered to dead center. Cole struck out nine and walked none in his seven innings of work, and much like Clayton Kershaw last night, the three runs allowed doesn’t really reflect how well he pitched. However, the Dodgers had no luck in pushing across runs against the Pirates’ bullpen, so they were done in by the mediocre start.

Tomorrow, the Diamondbacks (who were just mathematically eliminated earlier today) will arrive at Dodger Stadium for a three game series. The teams will kick it off with Brett Anderson facing Jhoulys Chacin at 7:10 PDT.