Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Coming off a series where they lost three of four to the Diamondbacks, the Dodgers thankfully managed to turn things around by completing the sweep of the Rockies tonight with a 7-3 win and making them winners of four in a row.
——
As one might be able to surmise from the title, it was Joc Pederson who rebounded from his abdominal contusion to lead things off in the 1st with his 31st dong of the year.
He tied a franchise record.
The Dodgers then put up a crooked number in the 4th. Chris Taylor started with a single and Hyun-Jin Ryu bunted him over, which tied him with Clayton Kershaw for the sacrifice lead.
Joc followed by walking, which is what I would’ve done to him, and Corey Seager plated a run with a single. Another run scored on a Justin Turner grounder to third, in which Nolan Arenado seemingly couldn’t decide which base to throw to. That was followed by a Cody Bellinger single for a run and a Matt Beaty ground out for another run. That made it four in the inning at a 5-0 lead.
Normally that’d mean it was game over with Ryu on the mound, but he continued to struggle. In the 4th alone, he gave up two walks, a single, and a double to get the Rockies back to within 5-2.
Fortunately, Joc was still a thing and so was his hot streak. In the 4th, Ryu contributed to his own cause with a single and then Joc followed by smashing his 32nd dong of the year to increase the lead back to five at 7-2.
That was his fifth homer in six at-bats, and he missed making it six for six by literally inches.
It was also the dong that set the NL record for homers.
Setting records. 🔥
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 5, 2019
The Dodgers now have 250 home runs this season, the most ever for a National League team. pic.twitter.com/OvmYV4phgs
Ryu came back out for the 5th but didn’t complete it. After getting an out, he gave up three singles in a row to make it 7-3 and had his night ended by Dave Roberts. He went 4.1 innings and gave up three runs while striking out five, but it was worse than that as he walked four and surrendered six hits.
The bullpen was another story, however. Adam Kolarek started the string of quality, getting both of his lefties to escape trouble for Ryu in the 5th. Ross Stripling then took over and gave up a single in the 6th, but got two scoreless frames and two strikeouts in his outing.
Caleb Ferguson continued to look like he was about to make the playoff pen, as he pitched yet another dominant scoreless frame, taking just 10 pitches for a 1-2-3 inning that included a strikeout.
Pedro Baez got the 9th, issuing a walk but getting two strikeouts and a ground out to successfully protect the four-run lead and secure the win.
——
The Dodgers are now 92-50. They are one game behind the Yankees for the best record in baseball. Their magic number is just 4.
