Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers were going for a series win against the Cardinals tonight, and thanks to a historic explosion in the very first inning, they had that wrapped up early in a blowout 14-3 win.
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Somewhat amusingly, things didn’t start great for the Dodgers as Walker Buehler surrendered a solo homer to Paul Goldschmidt to give the Cardinals an early 1-0 advantage.
Needless to say, it didn’t take long for the Dodgers to get that back against Carlos Martinez. Mookie Betts led off with a bloop double, Max Muncy drew a walk, Justin Turner singled to left to score Betts, and Cody Bellinger singled to right to score Munchie and JT, making it 3-1.
That wasn’t even close to it, though. Chris Taylor then walked, and Gavin Lux “singled” off the wall in center that led to Belli, CT3, and Lux all potentially running into a mess after a misread on the ball by Belli, but an absolutely hilarious relay throw by Edmundo Sosa led to all the runners advancing on the error.
Zach McKinstry then singled past a drawn-in infield to score both CT3 and Lux to make it 6-1.
After Austin Barnes drew a walk, the first out of the inning was recorded by Martinez when Buehler struck out bunting. Then Betts immediately continued the onslaught by singling to left to score McKinstry.
After Muncy made the first out by a Dodger position player, JT walked to load the bases, which knocked Martinez out. Jake Woodford entered and Bellinger swung away on a 3-0 count and hit a ball way up and over the wall in right for a grand slam and an 11-1 score.
If it seemed like a lot of runs, it’s because it was.
Meanwhile, Buehler got back into the saddle in the 2nd, giving up a single and walk but working out of it. He wasn’t as lucky in the 3rd, when a one-out single and a two-out wild pitch was cashed in by a Nolan Arenado bloop double to right that cut the lead to … uh, 11-2.
After a quiet 3rd for the offense, they got right back to it in the 4th against new pitcher Tyler Webb. CT3 got a one-out single, then Lux and McKinstry drew back-to-back walks to load the bases. Later, with two outs, Buehler came up and smacked a double down the line in right to score CT3 and Lux. Betts then followed with another single to score McKinstry and make it 14-2.
The Cardinals did manage to continue ruining Buehler line, as Dylan Carlson hit a solo shot in the 5th to make it 14-3. Walker also ran into a mess in the 6th after getting the first two outs, giving up a walk, single, and an intentional walk to load the bases for the pitcher, who thankfully grounded out to end the threat. Buehler’s day was meh but the intensity surely wasn’t exactly there: 6 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 8 K, 103 Pitches.
That aforementioned pitcher that grounded out was Seth Elledge, who threw scoreless frames in both the 5th and 6th. Junior Fernandez was next in the 7th, walking back-to-back batters with two outs before escaping. He also got a scoreless inning in the 8th to close the book on the Dodgers.
Edwin Uceta entered in the 7th in relief of Buehler, aiming to not have a disaster that would require the team to use more relievers. He got six of the seven batters he faced, facing only one over the minimum due to an error by first-time third baseman Will Smith.
Alex Vesia entered for the 9th and struck out the side, preventing the three-inning save and ruining Eric Stephen’s night. A nice bonus to close it out.
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The Dodgers improve to 33-23 on the season with the victory and are now 1.5 games back of the Giants and 0.5 games back of the Padres in the NL West.
After a day off tomorrow to travel to Atlanta, the Dodgers will take on the Braves in a three-game set starting at 1:20 PM HST/4:20 PM PST/7:20 PM EST. Julio Urias (3.61 ERA/2.98 FIP/3.63 DRA) will take the mound for the Dodgers looking to bounce back from a rare ugly outing, and he will face Ian Anderson (3.27 ERA/3.66 FIP/3.68 DRA).
