Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers had lost two games in a row, which obviously isn’t the end of the world, but the bats have indeed looked sluggish of late. That continued this afternoon on a getaway day, but luckily Julio Urias turned in his best start of his career to this point for a 1-0 win over the Mariners to earn a split.
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Marco Gonzales was described in the off-season as “very boring” by one Mariners exec, but luckily effectiveness is not determined by how excited people get about you. And today he continued the struggles of the Dodger offense, allowing just two hits and a walk over seven innings.
Fortunately, all of those came in the same inning. AJ Pollock started the 3rd with a double, a grounder advanced him to third, Austin Barnes drew a walk, and after Dylan Moore robbed another hit with another comically good play, Corey Seager cashed in the scoring chance with a single to center to make it 1-0.
Luckily, Urias turned in the best start of his career. Against a first-place Mariners team, Urias allowed just a single hit and walk, never allowing a runner passed second base, and striking out a career-high 11 batters. Not only was he touching 97 mph and pumping 95-96 consistently, but his new slurve was outstanding and generated a ton of whiffs.
7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 11 K, 88 Pitches.
Meanwhile, Casey Sadler relieved Gonzales and continued the offensive struggles in the 8th with a scoreless frame. The 9th provided a big chance against Keynan Middleton, who gave up two walks and a stolen base, but escaped the jam due to a contact play being on and a runner getting thrown out at home.
Victor Gonzalez relieved Urias in the 8th, issuing a walk and seemingly picking a guy off that resulted in a stolen base due to a wild throw. That was the Mariners first shot with a man in scoring position, but he escaped it with a comebacker to keep the shutout intact.
Kenley Jansen was then given the 9th, and he certainly looked like he found something that worked. He topped out at 97 mph with the two-seamer and was consistently 93-94 mph with the cutter … and it was moving. He ended up striking out two batters in a 1-2-3 frame to win it. Impressive.
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The Dodgers are now 14-4.
The team has a day off tomorrow as the travel home to Los Angeles for a four-game set against the Padres. I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily a big series since it’s mid-April, but it should be exciting. The first game will start at 4:10 PM HST/7:10 PM PST/10:10 PM EST and will feature Walker Buehler against Ryan Weathers in a rematch of the first game of the series a week ago.
