Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers got their rings yesterday and then the lineup forgot how to hit. Thankfully, they exploded early today and rode that to a 9-5 victory over the Nationals as Julio Urias and an array of pen arms held on.
——
Corey Seager essentially started the scoring in the game, though not in the way you’d want. Trea Turner singled past him on a hard play, he then failed to turn a routine double play on Juan Soto after taking an extra step on the turn, and then allowed the inning to continue after being unable to make a play on a very getable Ryan Zimmerman single. That allowed Starlin Castro to bloop a ball into right for a 1-0 lead against Urias.
Fortunately, it didn’t take long for the Dodgers to rally, as they took control in the 2nd. Patrick Corbin cruised through the 1st, but then walked Will Smith, Max Muncy, and AJ Pollock to load the bases. With one down, Zach McKinstry singled to drive in two and put the Dodgers in front.
Later on with two down, Chris Taylor stepped up and crushed the first pitch for a three-run shot and a 5-1 lead.
After a quiet few innings — wasting a chance in the 3rd — Seager broke out of his “slump” with a single and then Justin Turner followed with a double into the gap that plated Seager and made it 6-1, knocking Corbin out of the game.
Meanwhile, Urias was rolling. He retired 11 in a row from the 2nd to the 6th, but then with one down Soto happened as he hammered a fastball for a homer, the only extra-base hit Julio allowed in the game. Urias then gave up a single, and then with two outs gave up back-to-back singles to make it 6-3 and knocking him out of the game. Urias probably pitched better than his decent line: 5.2 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 0 B, 3 K, 95 Pitches.
Jimmy Nelson then entered in the 6th and continued to struggle with his command, hitting a batter to load the bases, but then rebounded with a strikeout to escape disaster. He then was allowed to hit and continued in the 7th, getting a strikeout to start and then issuing a walk before inducing Soto of all people to ground into an inning-ending double play.
Austin Voth and Sam Clay kept the bats scoreless in the 5th and 6th frames, but Clay continued in the 7th and got in trouble with two outs. Turner flared a double down the line in right, Smith was intentionally walked, and Muncy got a jam-shot infield single to load the bases. That brought in Kyle Finnegan, who allowed Pollock to sharply hit a ball to left that got past a diving Andrew Stevenson for a double that cleared the bases and made it 9-3.
Dennis Santana then made his season debut in the 8th, where he gave up a single but induced a double play. He then got bitten by an infield single and then a single against the shift, but got a strikeout to avoid giving up any runs.
Scott Alexander was given the 9th, surrendering a single and then giving up a two-run shot to Soto (who else?) to make it 9-5. He then allowed another single (kinda) before getting the final out to end it.
——
——
The Dodgers are now 7-2 on the season.
The series finale with the Nationals will be at 10:10 AM HST/1:10 PM PST/4:10 PM EST with the marquee Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer matchup.
