Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
This Nationals and Dodgers series is arguably a battle for the title of the best team in the National League, and today the matchup resulted in the Dodgers coming out on the wrong end of a 4-2 score.
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Hyun-Jin Ryu looked a lot like his old self, assuming that the fastballs at 87-88 were actually his new cutter, because he topped out at 94 mph and continued to showcase his array of pitches against arguably the best lineup in the majors. Most importantly, he gave the Dodgers 7 quality innings with 4 strikeouts, giving up 7 hits and 0 walks, including a rather unfortunate 4 runs.
Ryu surrendered a homer in the second inning to Anthony Rendon on a 3-2 change that was on the outside corner, and gave up the three other runs on ground singles, so it wasn’t like he got shelled despite the line. This was definitely an encouraging outing, and he made his case for a rotation spot should one open.
Unfortunately, the Dodgers bats were relatively quiet again for the most part. They got nothing through the first five innings against Gio Gonzalez, which is less than ideal, especially considering his struggles of late.
However, the Dodgers finally rallied to for something in the 6th inning, with things getting started thanks to a Logan Forsythe walk and a Corey Seager single to put runners on the corners. Chris Taylor then drove in a run on a double down the line, which also put runners on second and third with still nobody out.
Franklin Gutierrez then netted another run on a ground out, but the threat was ended after two more grounders.
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Brandon Morrow pitched the other two innings for the Dodgers out of the pen, getting scoreless frames in both, though the second was unsurprisingly a bit more of a struggle. I’m praying to god this is an extended audition for Sergio Romo‘s bullpen spot when Luis Avilan gets back, because it should be and he’s passing.
And, uh, yeah, that was about it. The Dodgers got just 6 hits and 3 walks on the night, which was the story of the game.
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The Dodgers drop to 35-24 overall and 21-9 at home, and it sorta stings cause realistically they needed to get this one if they had hopes of taking the series. The Rockies and Diamondbacks didn’t play today, and the Dodgers are now 1 game back of the Rockies in the NL West and remain 2nd in the NL West.
They’ll do this again with the Nationals, trying to even things up at 4:10 PM HST/7:10 PM PST/10:10 PM EST. Brandon McCarthy (3.38 ERA/3.09 FIP/3.60 DRA) will take the hill for the Dodgers, and he has the unenviable position of trying to match Max Scherzer (2.56 ERA/3.03 FIP/1.77 DRA) of the Nationals, who is probably going to destroy this lineup.
