Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers squeaked by with a 4-2 win over the Orioles, which is nice and all, but when all that matters at this point is that players stay healthy it’s certainly not ideal that they keep getting hurt.
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Rich Hill made his much-anticipated comeback tonight and didn’t last an inning. He got the first two batters on strikeouts but was already laboring, and he then hit two batters and walked two batters to give the Orioles a 1-0 lead before being removed.
It was hard not to think the worst considering he was coming off an elbow injury, but it seems like a knee issue.
Yes, the same one from Spring Training.
Not great for 2019, but he avoided a potential career-ending issue at least. Or at least it seems like that’s the case for now.Back to the game, Adam Kolarek was summoned to complete the 1st and he did so by inducing a grounder to get out of the jam. The Dodgers then quickly came back to tie it in the 2nd after Cody Bellinger singled, stole second, and later scored on a Gavin Lux bloop to make it 1-1.
Yimi Garcia got the 2nd by facing the minimum, though he did walk a batter and got lucky with a lined double play. Tony Gonsolin followed and he continued to look good in relief. He gave up a solo shot to Pedro Severino in the 5th to make it 2-1, but otherwise had three quality innings, striking out four and giving up just another single.
Once again though, the Dodgers came right back in the 6th. A lead-off double by A.J. Pollock was cashed in thanks to a Cody single to tie things at 2-2. A walk to Corey Seager seemed like a rally was imminent, but there were soon two outs. An error on an Enrique Hernandez grounder bailed the offense out and loaded the bases, and the Dodgers scored two on another gift from the Orioles, this time coming on a Russell Martin strikeout that came with a passed ball and somehow allowed two runners to score thus making it 4-2.
Kenta Maeda took over in the 6th, walking a batter but getting a scoreless frame. Pedro Baez followed with the same formula, though in addition to the walk he also struck out a batter to get through his inning. Julio Urias then served as a setup man in the 8th and he had a dominant outing with a 1-2-3 inning that included two strikeouts.
Of course, setting the table for Kenley Jansen has been anything but game ending lately. But today he seemed generally on point, mixing his pitches well and even flashing signs of his old cutter at his old velocity, getting a 1-2-3 frame to end it.
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The Dodgers improve to 95-53 with the victory. They lead the Braves by 4 games in the NL and trail the Yankees by 2 games in the MLB.
They will now travel to New York for a series against the Mets that starts at 1:10 PM HST/4:10 PM PST/7:10 PM EST. Clayton Kershaw will face off against Noah Syndergaard in a marquee matchup.
