Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
After an all-important Game 1 victory in the short five-game series, the Dodgers looked to cement their advantage in the NLDS and put them on the verge of advancing in Game 2.
Like with Game 1, it was a lot closer than the final score and it was a hell of a game, one saved by a Cody Bellinger catch and timely hitting in a 6-5 win to put the Dodgers on the verge.
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Clayton Kershaw was on the mound for the Dodgers and looked to build off his stellar start against the Brewers in the NLWC series. After cruising through a 1-2-3 frame in the 1st, he ran into early trouble in the 2nd after a bloop single from Tommy Pham and then a double flipped the other way into the gap from Wil Myers to make it 1-0 early before he escaped without further damage.
Zach Davies was on the opposite side, and after a relatively uneventful first two innings, the bats got started in the 3rd behind back-to-back singles from AJ Pollock and Austin Barnes to lead things off.
After Mookie Betts smoked a ball to third and was robbed by a diving Manny Machado. Fortunately, Corey Seager stepped up and drilled a double to right-center field for two runs, then later with two out Max Muncy fisted a single to center to plate another and make it 3-1.
Kershaw also faced some trouble in the 4th after a one-out single and then a two-out infield single that put runners at the corners but was more about Justin Turner tripping over his own feet than anything else. He also escaped that jam to keep the lead intact.
The Dodgers made that pay off by extending the lead as Cody Bellinger jumped on a Davies changeup that was out of the zone down and smashed a homer to dead center, the first of the series.
With two outs in the same inning, Austin Barnes came up with his second hit of the night and Mookie followed with a single of his own but Barnes was thrown out.
Later the lead was cut to one against Kershaw after Manny Machado and Eric Hosmer went back-to-back making it 4-3.
Kershaw was done after six and gave way to Blake Treinen, who got two outs but then hit Trent Grisham on a 1-2 count. That led to Brusdar Graterol entering, immediately balking the runner to second, and then giving up a massive blast to Fernando Tatis Jr.
Thankfully, Cody Bellinger was in center.
That led to a massive tidal wave of salt from the Padres, which is hilarious considering they’re supposed to be the young and cool team that celebrates and doesn’t take it seriously.
There’s no problem here, honestly. Graterol was pumped that his teammate saved his ass and celebrated that. He was doing so on his own and with his own team, walked back to the dugout, and continued to get yelled at by Machado, so he responded. That’s it.
Padres can’t have it both ways in terms of wanting to celebrate however they want, which I do think they should be able to do, and then turn around and get mad at anybody doing the same. But I get it, people get mad in the heat of the game, that’s fine, it’s just annoying to also see people defending their reaction when they shit on the Dodgers for the Clayton Kershaw and Trent Grisham thing.
Either way, the Dodgers added two runs in the 7th behind a Barnes walk, a Mookie single, a double steal, a Justin Turner sacrifice fly, and a Max Muncy bloop single to make it 6-3.
Graterol then continued and got a 1-2-3 inning in the 8th, eventually giving way to Kenley Jansen. He got a strikeout to start, but then gave up a single off his glove, a double to Mitch Moreland to make it 6-4. He rebounded with a pop out, but then gave up a single to make it 6-5.
The led to Dave Roberts finally taking him out for Joe Kelly. Tatis walked after working a 3-2 count, which left things for Machado, who also worked a 3-2 count and walked to load the bases. Eventually he got Eric Hosmer to ground out to second … somehow.
Breathe.
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Game 3 is tomorrow at 3:08 PM HST/6:08 PM PST/9:08 PM EST on MLB Network.
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