Dodgers 2, Brewers 1: We Have Father’s Day #Shrimp

The Dodgers won this Father’s Day game with walk-off #Shrimp, 2-1, over the Brewers.

Shrimp is definitely the only thing that happened this afternoon.

No? There was a game besides that? Oh, right.

Kenta Maeda didn’t have his best command early, but he battled through the issues and settled in, getting the Dodgers through 6 1/3 innings on 107 pitches just five days after seemingly getting his knee destroyed by a comebacker. Maeda struck out eight and scattered six hits and three walks, only giving up a run on a Scooter Gennett solo homer in the first inning. With the effort, Maeda’s ERA on the year dropped to 2.64.

In relief of Maeda in the seventh inning was Pedro Baez, who inherited a runners on first and second situation with one out. Baez was tasked with getting pinch hitter Jonathan Lucroy, who he promptly got on a double play. Baez was also tasked with getting the eighth inning thanks in part to the Dodgers currently having a tired bullpen, which he did without absorbing any other damage.

The problem, however, as it has been most of the season, was the Dodgers offense. They were shutout through seven innings, managing just five baserunners via five hits in that span.

So while there weren’t a bunch of chances, the Dodgers did have their opportunities to get out to a lead after how well the pitching staff did. In particular, the offense put runners on second and third with nobody out in the first, after a lead-off single by Chase Utley which was followed by a double off the wall by Corey Seager. Unfortunately, Justin Turner followed by striking out, and Adrian Gonzalez then popped into a double play to shallow left with Utley being thrown out at home. Initially, it seems like Utley just had an odd TOOTBLAN, but it was actually Seager at second who was caught completely off the bag with a terrible read on the ball. Thus, it was actually quite the smart play by Chase, as Utley figured he might as well chance it by going home to draw a throw lest Seager would be doubled up at second anyway.

The offense also had another shot in the fifth inning after Howie Kendrick singled with out down, A.J. Ellis followed by getting hit by a pitch, and Maeda bunted to advance the runners to second and third. Unfortunately, Utley couldn’t come through, as he grounded out to first to end the threat.

At one point it got bad enough that Vin Scully was throwing shade.

“When the Dodgers hit… or at least when they have their at-bats” – Vin Scully, savage

— Daniel Brim (@DanielBrim) June 19, 2016

However, everything was made better in the eighth inning when Enrique Hernandez (finally) dingered over the left-field wall to tie the game, 1-1.

After that game-tying donger, Kenley Jansen entered for the ninth and got a scoreless inning on six pitches to give the Dodgers a chance to walk off.

Thankfully, the Dodgers did exactly that. A-Gon and Trayce Thompson came up with back-to-back singles, which was later followed by a Howie walk. That led to a potential #Shrimp situation with pinch hitter Yasmani Grandal, who managed to work exactly that.

The Dodgers got five baserunners in the last two innings alone, which matched their total for the first seven innings of the game to pull out the victory.

#Shrimp isn’t the most exciting way to walk it off, but it certainly is the best.

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With the win, the Dodgers get to 38-33 on the year overall, and end up 20-15 at home.

The Dodgers welcome the Nationals tomorrow night at 4:00 PM HST/7:00 PM PST/10:00 PM EST on national television via ESPN. The pitching matchup of Clayton Kershaw against Stephen Strasburg is not only the best of this series but is also one of the best of the year.

Get hype.

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Quality flying hat attempt on this foul ball, man.

Matt Garza turned in a great start today, but man, he really doesn’t like fielding his position.