Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
One day after cruising to a laugher over the Phillies, the Dodgers lost a wild one that caused Dodgers Twitter to have a bit of a meltdown. Tonight, the rain gave everybody quite a bit of time to chill out.
The Dodgers came back from that ready to play as they eventually cruised to a 7-2 victory thanks to a highly effecting showing from the pen.
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The Dodgers got the scoring started in the 1st without a hit, as Nick Pivetta walked three batters in a row and then A.J. Pollock drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to make it 1-0.
For his part, Kenta Maeda delivered two scoreless innings before the delay. He nibbled quite a bit, walking two batters but striking out three and allowing no hits. Either way, I suppose it gives him extra rest of sorts.
No scoring was done until the 6th when the Dodgers mounted a two-out rally. Back-to-back walks to Enrique Hernandez and Russell Martin brought up reliever Julio Urias in for Maeda and he singled up the middle to double the lead to 2-0.
That didn’t last long. Following Casey Sadler getting two outs in relief of Maeda, as mentioned, Urias then entered and sailed through 2.1 innings. However, an error by Max Muncy, a single, and an intentional walk loaded the bases with one out in the 6th, and that IBB backfired as Urias walked a run in before being removed. He ended up going 2.2 innings, giving up two runs (none earned) on a hit and two walks, striking out three.
Pedro Baez relieved him and induced a grounder that scored a run but also followed with a strikeout to escape further damage and the inning ended 2-2.
In the 7th, Muncy led things off with a single, and then David Freese parked his 9th dinger into the right-field seats for a two-run homer and a 4-2 lead.
Baez came back out for the 7th and cruised through a 1-2-3 frame, including strikeout.
The bats then capitalized on this in the 8th after Martin was hit by a pitch and Justin Turner immediately followed with his 12th homer of the year to make it 6-2.
Joe Kelly entered in the 8th and looked dominant, getting a 1-2-3 frame with a three-pitch strikeout of Bryce Harper and two groundouts.
The Dodgers got insurance in the 9th behind after Pollock was hit by a pitch, stole second, and then scored on anHernandez single to balloon the lead to five and make it 7-2.
Dylan Floro was entrusted with the lead and the 9th. He started strong with a strikeout, but then gave up a single and a walk. Though at least he rebounded with back-to-back ground outs to secure the victory.
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The win gets the Dodgers to 64-34.
The series finale is in a bit more than 10 hours or so away at 6:35 AM HST/9:35 AM PST/12:35 PM EST, so good luck waking up. Ross Stripling will face Aaron Nola, which is a mismatch, though that’s what I said about hi against Chris Sale.
