Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
With the Dodgers entering today’s game in the midst of a massive lull in both hitting and winning (and fielding and relief pitching, I suppose), the bats exploded for 16 runs on 16 hits and 4 walks (3 HBP). The most exciting competition in the 16-4 victory over the Brewers was the RBI back-and-forth between AJ Pollock and Matt Beaty.
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Alex Bettinger made his MLB debut for the Brewers, and to say it didn’t go as planned would be an understatement. With one out in the 1st the mess started when Corey Seager walked and then Justin Turner singled, and Chris Taylor followed by getting hit with two outs to load the bases. Beaty then dribbled one that went for a single and a run after Bettinger couldn’t find the bag. Pollock made him pay for the mistake, slamming a grand dong to drive everybody home and get the festivities started with a 5-0 lead.
The bats didn’t stop in the 2nd. With one out, Seager singled and JT reached on an infield single, and CT3 reached on another infield single with two outs to load the bases. Again, they managed to capitalize after Beaty snuck a dong over the wall for the second grand slam in as many innings and a 9-0 lead.
After not taking advantage of a chance in the 3rd, they were back at it in the 4th with one-out back-to-back singles from Will Smith and CT3 setting the table. After they both advanced on a wild pitch, Beaty stepped up and lined a single to plate two more and give him seven RBI on the day.
With the Brewers pen just as exhausted, Bettinger took all of the damage as he had to wear one in his debut. In the 5th, Jordan Zimmermann gave the Brewers a brief respite, but the 6th didn’t go the same way. Smith lead off with a double, CT3 then got hit again, and with one down Pollock crushed another homer for a three-run shot and a 14-1 lead for seven RBI of his own.
After taking another inning off, things got back on track in the 8th. Taylor walked and then Beaty singled sharply with one out, which setup Pollock to take the RBI lead for the game with a double to left to score CT3. Gavin Lux followed with an infield single to score Beaty and make it 16-1.
Patrick Weigel then entered in relief and immediately hit a batter to put a runner in scoring position, but got out of it by striking out a woeful Edwin Rios. He continued in the 9th, getting into trouble with two singles and a wild pitch sandwiched between, but ended the scoring by preventing Beaty and Pollock from going off further.
Oh yeah, there was Julio Urias pitching as well. The Dodgers desperately needed him to go deep in the game as they had just one fresh arm in the pen, and that was only because there was a recent call-up. Well, Julio fulfilled his duties and then some. He faced just two batters with a runner in scoring position, both in the 4th, with no damage. The only run he surrendered was on a homer to Jacob Nottingham to lead off the 3rd.
Basically, he dominated in a game where it wasn’t even necessary, striking out 10 batters and getting everybody free weight gain from Jack In The Box. His line: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 10 K, 90 Pitches.
Mike Kickham was then brought in to run out the clock on the game and was a mess. In the 8th he gave up two singles, a double, a homer, and a walk, scoring three runs to make it 16-4. He then completed the game with a scoreless 9th, even after hitting a batter and giving up a single.
Happy flight!
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The Dodgers improve to 17-12, which amazingly is still a 95-win pace despite them playing some of the worst baseball I’ve seen in recent memory over the past couple weeks.
With the four-game series in Milwaukee now over, the Dodgers will travel to Chicago to take on the Cubs starting at 1:40 PM HST/4:40 PM PST/7:40 PM EST. Walker Buehler will get the start against a struggling-so-far Kyle Hendricks.
