Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Blowing the lead in yesterday’s game was a downer because it meant the Dodgers wouldn’t be able to sweep the lowly Marlins with Clayton Kershaw taking the hill in the series finale. Well, as it turns out, it actually meant that the Dodgers would be losing the series after Kershaw struggled mightily and the bats did nothing again in a 8-6 loss.
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Kershaw cruised through the 1st inning against the Marlins, striking out the side in order, much like a pitcher of his caliber should. That’s when the trouble hit, as he needed an escape plan in the next three frames. Kershaw allowed two singles and a walk in the 2nd, two walks in the 3rd, and a double, single, and walk in the 4th, yet allowed zero runs through all of it.
Predictably, it came back to bite him eventually. After getting two outs in the 5th, Kershaw walked back-to-back batters and then allowed a three-run homer to Miguel Rojas (not a typo) to give the Marlins a 3-0 lead. Overall, Kershaw labored through five innings on 112 pitches, striking out seven but giving up five hits and six (SIX!) walks. He’s honestly almost lucky three runs was all the damage.
Daniel Hudson took over in the 6th, and he looked relatively effective again, striking out two. However, he did surrender a solo shot to J.T. Realmuto, who is playing out of his mind right now. Adam Liberatore then started the 7th, issuing a walk and immediately being removed. JT Chargois replaced him and got three outs to prevent any damage, including two strikeouts. Scott Alexander then came on in the 8th and he struggled yet again, allowing three hits in the inning, including two runs on a dong to Realmuto to basically ice the game.
Kenley Jansen got the 9th, and boy he looked good … wait so how did two runs score, right? After inducing a routine fly out to left, Jansen got a weak bouncer to short, which Seager threw wide. Jansen rebounded to strike out the next hitter, but after he induced an infield pop behind short, Seager fell and allowed it to drop in for a “hit” and maybe managed to strain his groin in the process. Even still, Jansen rebounded to induce a weak grounder to Chase Utley, who threw it wide at first and allowed two runs to score. Finally, ending the ordeal, Kenley got a strikeout to end the frame. Yeesh.
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Offensively, the Dodgers were pathetic for most of the game, honestly. That’s about all there is to say.
The Dodgers have scored two runs off three Marlins starting pitchers I had literally never heard of before this series began.
— Andy McCullough (@ByMcCullough) April 26, 2018
In the 6th, they managed to avoid a shutout behind a Corey Seager walk, a Cody Bellinger single, and a Joc Pederson single.
Later, with two outs in the 8th, Bellinger kept things alive with a double and Matt Kemp immediately followed with a two-run homer.
In the 9th, the Dodgers got another back after a lead-off triple by Enrique Hernandez (that was a misplayed single, really) was cashed in on a grounder from Kyle Farmer. The Dodgers then got two more after a Seager single and a Yasmani Grandal two-run bomb to right.
It was too little too late, however.
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With the loss, the Dodgers drop to 11-12 overall and 7-8 at home. It’s … not great.
The Dodgers have a day off tomorrow, during which they’ll hit the road as their next game is in San Francisco against the Giants. Hyun-Jin Ryu will look to continue his run of excellence against Derek Holland.
