Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Did I wake up late by mistake for the Gray versus Gray pitching matchup? Absolutely.
Well, the Dodgers eked out a series win against the Rockies with a 3-2 victory, which I suppose is a bigger accomplishment than it seems considering they are running out Spring Training lineups.
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Jon Gray started for the Rockies and was greeted rudely by Chris Taylor to lead off the game.
CT3, so hot right now. pic.twitter.com/ikPbTRmwpb
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) July 25, 2021
Other than Taylor, Gray was great for the Rockies over five innings, struggling with pitch count but not much else. Of course, there was that CT3 problem, as he also homered in the 5th.
CAN'T STOP CT3. pic.twitter.com/3tONsG8rDq
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) July 25, 2021
Unfortunately that was only good enough for the tie, as Josiah Gray did give up two runs in his four innings of work. In his first MLB start he gave up a Trevor Story single for an RBI in the 1st and then an Elias Diaz homer in the 2nd, but he worked out of bases loaded trouble in the 4th thanks to his propensity for generating whiffs.
Jimmy Nelson, Brusdar Graterol, and Phil Bickford got four scoreless frames in relief, with Brusdar getting a notable pair of them.
That set things up for Will Smith, who victimized Carlos Estevez in the 8th with a wall-scraping homer to make it 3-2.
With Kenley Jansen throwing way too many pitches over the past four days, Joe Kelly entered for the save in the 9th. A swinging bunt for a single was an ominous start, but he rebounded with three outs to get the save, though not without some injury concern after he slipped on the infield single.
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The Dodgers are now 61-40, staying 2 games back of the Giants in the NL West.
After a day off to travel tomorrow, the Dodgers will have an important series against the Giants at 3:45 PM HST/6:45 PM PST/9:45 PM EST with Julio Urias and Logan Webb starting.
