Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Adrian Gonzalez was placed on the disabled list earlier today due to his injuries, but also because Cody Bellinger deserved a longer look. And boy did Cody start taking advantage of that immediately today with a 3-for-5 night and two homers to up his OPS to 1.127 on the year.
But it wasn’t always a blowout.
To start, the Dodgers threatened in both the first and second innings, making opposing starter Jhoulys Chacin labor through 48 pitches. However, despite getting two runners on in both frames, the Dodgers ended up with nothing to show for it. In the fourth, they finally got a breakthrough thanks to one swing by Bellinger.
But, uh, that was it against Chacin, who made it through 5.1 innings on 89 pitches despite the rough start. The struggle was real, folks.
Kenta Maeda, meanwhile, continued to get back on a track … sorta. He made 87 pitches through five-plus innings, striking out a whopping eight batters and limiting the Padres to just three hits, but also walking three. Maeda wasn’t at his best in terms of command, but the stuff was there and at least he was missing for balls instead of over the middle of the plate.
One run scored in the fourth on an RBI single, but the only other against him was unearned and came across in the fifth. On a sac bunt attempt with one out, Bellinger tried to get the lead runner at second but instead threw it into center. That was immediately followed by a sac fly to take advantage of the error and net the Padres a lead.
Maeda also started the sixth, but was removed after a four-pitch walk, and Luis Avilan came in to get out of trouble. Well Avilan walked the first batter he faced, and then almost walked another before battling back and getting the out. That prompted Dave Roberts to go back to the pen and get … well, Sergio Romo. Romo, now being used as a ROOGY (thank god), immediately started things with a walk and then trying his best to walk another before notching a strikeout and inducing a line out to third to barely escape without damage.
Good thing, because that allowed the Dodgers to rally in the seventh. Chris Taylor led-off with a single and Franklin Gutierrez followed with one of his own. After perhaps questionably trying to bunt twice with Andrew Toles, they let him swing away against a lefty and he drilled a fastball into the gap to clear the bases and give the Dodgers a lead.
Pedro Baez then entered to try and make the lead hold up. Baez immediately walked a batter and went 3-0 to the next, but Yasmani Grandal caught a runner stealing (50% CS on the year, btw) and Baez battled back in the inning to sort of have a 1-2-3 frame.
In the eighth, the Dodgers got some insurance. After the first two outs, Yasiel Puig squibbed an infield single to second, stole second and advanced to third on an errant throw, and Taylor drove him in with a single that hit the bag.
Baez remained in the game for the eighth and got the first out before allowing an infield single. Grant Dayton then entered apparently as a LOOGY and got a strikeout before being relieved by Josh Fields. Fields promptly threw one pitch and almost gave up a game-tying homer, but no worries, because Puig was … well.
All’s well that ends well?
https://twitter.com/ChadMoriyama/status/860736678989676545
Legit looks like a stunt from a movie.
— Daniel Brim (@DanielBrim) May 6, 2017
Bellinger then proceeded to probably piss off Kenley Jansen by making sure he couldn’t get a save, following singles by Corey Seager and Justin Turner with this line bomb to center.
He good.
https://twitter.com/ChadMoriyama/status/860739921715240960
Fields then finished the game with a 1-2-3 inning to notch a save and lock down the win.
https://twitter.com/ChadMoriyama/status/860740876175237120
Displeased.
The Dodgers get to 16-14 with the 8-2 win, and improve to 6-8 away from home. Even if they lose tomorrow, at least they’ll be … 6-9 on the road. Nice.
At 2:40 PM HST/5:40 PM PST/8:40 PM EST, the Dodgers will go for a series win against the Padres tomorrow. The matchup on the mound will be Clayton Kershaw (2.61 ERA/3.10 FIP/2.00 DRA), who is struggling for his standards, against Clayton Richard (4.29 ERA/4.66 FIP/4.14 DRA), who is mediocre but clowned the Dodgers last time.
