Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
With so much noise from both Padres and Dodgers fans either doing a circlejerk about how it’s their time now or melting down about how they will never win in the playoffs, things have gotten awful quiet the last two days now. No tweets about playoff atmosphere, no noise about how fun everything is or anything like that. Huh.
Oh yeah, the Dodgers won the last two days as well, taking today’s game 7-5 over the Padres.
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As everybody was yelling at me about how important this was for both teams, it’s weird then that they both went with pen games in the rubber match, but I digress.
After the Dodgers threatened but didn’t get anything in the 1st off Adrian Morejon, Brusdar Graterol took the hill for the second time to start a game in a week and faced the minimum despite his walk thanks to a double play and a strikeout.
Morejon than gave up the lead to the Dodgers on an AJ Pollock solo shot in the 2nd to the deepest part of the park.
Graterol continued in the 2nd, but was taken out after getting a grounder and allowing a double. Adam Kolarek entered and got a ground out, but also issued a walk and a double to tie the game at 1-1. He then walked another to load the bases but escaped the inning without disaster striking.
The Dodgers rallied in the 3rd thanks to some Padres assistance. Gavin Lux reached to start on an error, Seager walked, and then with two outs Max Muncy doubled and Will Smith got a check swing single off Joey Lucchesi for two runs to make it 3-1.
In the 5th the Dodgers rallied for more, though it looked like a wasted chance for a while. Mookie Betts singled to start, stole second, and advanced to third on an error, and Justin Turner walked, but thanks to two strikeouts they were staring at getting nothing. Thankfully then Will Smith came through with a double to plate two runs, and Cody Bellinger followed with a single to plate another and make it 6-1.
The Dodgers continued to pile on in the 6th behind Chris Taylor, who himself has terrorized the Padres this year, absolutely annihilating a solo shot to left off Garrett Richards to make it 7-1.
The only thing notable that happened the rest of the game is Zack McKinstry making his MLB debut, which ended in a strikeout.
Meanwhile, Dustin May came back from his foot contusion in the 3rd, not starting the game due to … uh, playoff matchup considerations, apparently. But anyway, the main thing is he looked fully healthy and basically had a start, throwing 83 pitches in 5.1 innings. He gave up just three hits and a walk, striking out six. However, he did give up three runs with just one earned due to a Lux error.
Victor Gonzalez took over for him in the 8th, and he ended up getting three outs, working into the 9th and getting an impressive strikeout.
However, after he hit a batter with a slider, he was removed for Pedro Baez. Petey was gave up a single to cut the lead to 7-5, but was able to get two outs and close things.
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lol
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The Dodgers are now 35-15 on the year, and are 3.5 games up on the Padres in the NL West.
The Rockies are next for the Dodgers as they’ll fly up to Colorado for a three-game series starting at 2:40 PM HST/5:40 PM PST/8:40 PM EST. Julio Urias will face Kyle Freeland.
