Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers seemed dead in the water down 6-1 tonight against the Giants, but they rallied back to their dreaded one-run deficit before they overcame that in the 9th when Will Smith capitalized on Tyler Rogers‘ wildness with a three-run walk off shot.
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Old friend Alex Wood was on the mound for the Giants tonight, and the Dodgers actually struck first this time, with a Chris Taylor double cashed in by a Max Muncy single to make it 1-0.
That didn’t last for long, as starter/opener Darien Nunez continued to struggle in second innings of appearances, giving up a double and a homer to start the 2nd after a scoreless 1st to make it 2-1 for the Giants.
In the 3rd, Josiah Gray made his MLB debut and struggled with the long ball more than I struggled with spelling his name (I dunno why). He gave up a solo homer to LaMonte Wade Jr., a solo shot to Thairo Estrada (who?!), and a two-run shot from Mike Yastrzemski to make it 6-1.
However, he did show flashes, notching a bunch of whiffs in his debut, and he should be given a long look to see if the homer problems persist: 4 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 7 K, 77 Pitches.
So that looked like game over and I had basically given up on writing a recap.
But the Dodgers then stormed back starting in the 5th when Chris Taylor ambushed a Wood fastball to cut the deficit to 6-2.
CT3 got all of that one. pic.twitter.com/mqYB7Yu6VX
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) July 21, 2021
Things continued in the 6th, when Cody Bellinger walked and knocked Wood out, then Austin Barnes followed with a double to make it 6-3. Chris Taylor later smashed his second homer of the game, a two-run shot, to make it 6-5.
CT3 AGAIN! pic.twitter.com/eQjusxkGNl
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) July 21, 2021
That, of course, made it a dreaded one-run game for the Dodgers, and the offense subsequently basically shut down. Though it was made easier by Wood taking out the two best Dodgers hitters.
The Giants pen seemed to be coasting, and they had their closer Tyler Rogers ready to continue the misery. However, he couldn’t find the zone, issuing back-to-back walks to Taylor and Matt Beaty to start the inning, After throwing a strike to Will Smith, he then hung a slider that Smith crushed to left and he knew it, for a walk-off shot.
Go crazy, folks.
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Zach McKinstry did this as well.
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The Dodgers are now 59-37 on the year and 1 game behind the Giants.
Julio Urias will face Logan Webb at 4:10 PM HST/7:10 PM PST/10:10 PM EST and I would be happy with splitting this series considering all the injuries.
