Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Freeway Series was a short two-game affair in Anaheim, but nevertheless, the Dodgers were swept by the Angels after a 5-3 loss tonight, and thus they have now dropped their first series since late April.
It was bound to happen, and it happening against a team below .500 is very baseball.
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Well this loss was a new experience that hasn’t been felt in a while at least, as a starter imploded this time, with Kenta Maeda making a mess out of the 1st inning. Maeda allowed a homer, hit a batter, issued a walk, gave up a single against the shift, and gave up another homer, all in a row, accounting for five runs crossing the plate. To make matters worse, all of it happened with two outs.
Almost amusingly then, he settled after that and didn’t allow another run. In fact, he didn’t allow another hit and only walked two more batters, going 4.1 innings and striking out four.
Caleb Ferguson was recently recalled and he relieved Maeda as he approached 100 pitches. He continued the form he regained in AAA, striking out three in 1.2 shutout innings.
Pedro Baez entered and got the 7th, and he actually struggled a bit with a walk and a hit, but still got a scoreless frame. Ross Stripling then finished things off in the 8th and looked great, getting a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts.
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On the other side of things, Max Muncy provided the early offense, roping his 14th and 15th dongs of the year, both of which were unfortunately solo efforts.
The Dodgers actually got a bunch of runners on tonight, but stranded 15.
Seemingly their only hope was to hit solo shots, which David Freese did in the 8th to cut the lead to two.
They managed on last rally in the 9th behind a Corey Seager single, who was then advanced on a wild pitch, and an Alex Verdugo single that put runners on the corners due to Seager pulling up lame with a hamstring injury.
Dude gets red-hot and then that happens. Fucking thing sucks.
Not that it mattered as the next three batters made outs as the Dodgers didn’t even push a run across. There were a bunch of borderline strikes called on the outer half, but they were close enough and the way it ended told the story of the game.
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The Dodgers fall to 45-23 on the season and they lead the NL West over the Rockies by 9 games now.
They have an off day tomorrow as they return home to Los Angeles for a four-game series against the Cubs, starting at 4:10 PM HST/7:10 PM PST/10:10 PM EST. Clayton Kershaw (LHP/3.00 ERA/3.39 FIP/3.38 DRA) will duel with Jon Lester (LHP/3.56 ERA/3.91 FIP/4.48 DRA).
