Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
After tiring of the using random inanimate objects on fire for the Dodgers recently, I switched things up yesterday and went with a clown. The horrors of that appears to have motivated the Dodgers, as along with the testicles of Mookie Betts, it helped the lineup explode for a 14-run, 17-hit outburst in a 14-11 victory over the Angels that was more exciting than it should’ve been.
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Despite the final score, Dylan Bundy actually started off looking like he was going to dominate the Dodgers tonight. He faced the minimum batters through three frames due to an error being erased by a double play. But that didn’t last, as the 4th led to eight runs, the most in an inning for the Dodgers this year and what has been about a week worth of runs for them lately.
Betts started things with a walk, then Corey Seager quickly followed with a single up the middle to put runners at the corners. Then with one down, the tides of the season may have turned with one slap to Mookie’s nuts.
That immediately opened the floodgates. Max Muncy singled on literally the next pitch to plate Betts and his damaged genitals, and then Will Smith singled to plate Seager and make it 2-0.
After a Chris Taylor single loaded the bases, Matt Beaty stepped up and continued his bases loaded dominance, doubling to score Muncy and Smith.
That knocked Bundy out of the game and brought in Steve Cishek, who proceeded to get BABIP’d to death. After an intentional walk to Gavin Lux to load the bases, Austin Barnes singled on a borderline error to score CT3, Mookie then poked one down the line in right to score Beaty and Lux, and Seager rolled an infield single to score Barnes.
The Dodgers still ended up leaving the bases loaded in the inning, but not before the score read 8-0.
Felix Pena entered in the 5th for the Angels but didn’t provide much relief. He started by issuing back-to-back walks to CT3 and Beaty before retiring the next two while only allowing the runners to advance. However, a Mookie single plated both of them, Seager singled to put runners on the corners, and then Justin Turner doubled to score another. After a patented Muncy walk to load the bases, Smith hit one off the end of the bat to plate two more for a five-run inning and a 13-0 lead.
Oh right, that Clayton Kershaw guy. Well, he started on three days rest, which normally would be insane for a May start. It’s still probably ill-advised given his injury history and age, but since he only went one inning last time out they deemed him fresh enough.
All he did was throw five shutout innings, and almost fight Dave Roberts to stay in the game, but mercifully he was removed. His line: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, 71 Pitches.
Things did not go as well for the Dodgers pen. Dennis Santana surrendered three singles and two walks while getting just one out, ending up being charged with four runs. He gave way to Mitch White, who issued a walk and gave up a sacrifice fly, but got the last two outs to end the 6th at 13-4.
After Alex Claudio got a scoreless 6th for the Angels, Mike Mayers started the 7th and gave up DJ Peters‘ first MLB hit with a fly ball double, and then Muncy singled him home to make it 14-4.
That should’ve been an unnecessary insurance run, but after the nightmare the pen had in the 7th it was anything but. White continued on and got the first two outs of the inning, and then he appeared to get the third, but Barnes playing second couldn’t glove a Shohei Ohtani grounder. That led to a single, double, single, single, and single to make it 14-8 before White was relieved.
Garrett Cleavinger then entered and served up a three-run tater to cut the lead to 14-11 before finally ending the inning. Six of the runs in the seven-run inning were unearned, but boy did the middle of the pen continue to look like trash.
Junior Guerra faced the bases loaded in the 8th, but kept things scoreless. Raisel Iglesias also faced trouble in the 9th, putting runners at second and third, but managed to strand them there.
In terms of keeping the lead, Victor Gonzalez was handed the 8th as leverage was suddenly high again, and he responded with a 1-2-3 frame. That gave Blake Treinen the 9th, and he looked dominant in a perfect frame with two strikeouts to close it.
Sheesh.
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The Dodgers avoided falling to .500 with the win, improving to 18-16 on the season.
The series finale with the Angels will be tomorrow afternoon at 10:07 PM HST/1:07 PM PST/4:07 PM EST. Trevor Bauer will look to build momentum for the team and keep his own going against Jose Quintana.
