Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers won 6-4 tonight over the Padres, securing their sixth win in their last eight games, which you likely didn’t know because nobody freaks out about that like they would if they lost six of their last eight.
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Anyway, it was another day, another pen game for the Dodgers, and another essentially meaningless game of Dave Roberts trying to find the balance between not getting players hurt and insuring players feel right before the playoffs start.
Well, that and bullpen auditions at least. Ross Stripling served as the opener today and didn’t have much luck. He struck out seven over three innings, but allowed three runs on four hits and a walk. Not sure realistically that the results matter as much as how his stuff looks, but he’s certainly competing for one of the pen spots.
Fortunately for Strip, he wouldn’t get stuck with the loss, as the offense powered up. After his juiced dong yesterday, Joc Pederson stepped up to start the game and left no doubt, parking his 34th dong of the year to right on the fifth pitch of the game.
Continuing in the 1st, Max Muncy was then hit by a pitch, and he advanced two bases on two ground outs before scoring on a Corey Seager double.
In the 2nd, the offense continued to come via the long ball as Chris Taylor went the opposite way for his 12th homer.
With the game tied in the 5th, Joc stepped up again and again drilled a ball, this time to the opposite field for his 35th homer and a 4-3 lead.
In relief of Chicken Strip, Casey Sadler took over in the 4th. He didn’t have the easiest time due to a single and an error that eventually necessitated an intentional walk to load the bases, but he got out of the jam in the end.
Caleb Ferguson then continued his postseason pen quest, getting a 1-2-3 frame with two strikeouts in the 5th. He also got a lefty to lead off the 6th before giving way to Yimi Garcia, who proceeded to blow the lead. A hit-by-pitch and two singles led to a 4-4 tie, and Yimi got just one out before Dylan Floro had to be summoned to get out of the inning.
Fortunately for Yimi, Edwin Rios was there to bail him out in the 7th with an absolutely massive dong. Like comically massive.
It was his 4th of the year and he now has a 1.063 OPS.
Julio Urias entered to try and preserve the lead in the 7th, and though he walked a batter he did just that. The 8th was just impressive from Dustin May, carving up three hitters on 11 pitches that included three strikeouts.
In the 9th the Dodgers managed insurance. After a Russell Martin lead-off double, he advanced to third after Rios grounded behind him. Joc then tallied his third RBI of the night with a sacrifice fly to make it 6-4.
Yet again, Kenley Jansen was then tasked to close things out and he did that in 1-2-3 fashion. The cutter was moving tonight, though it is concerning that he’s not getting as many swings and misses as he’s gonna need.
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Been around since 1884 and in the last three years we’ve seen two of their best teams ever. pic.twitter.com/UCe7iIrh4R
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) September 26, 2019
