Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Coming off back-to-back wins over the Padres to start the series, the Dodgers completed the sweep in dominant fashion, getting their most decisive win in a while with a 8-0 victory.
Max Scherzer was the story today as he flirted with perfection in a combined shutout of the Padres. Meanwhile, the Dodgers offense scored eight runs on nine hits (also four walks and three hit by pitches), which hopefully gets them rolling a bit at least.
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Since being acquired, Scherzer has been everything the Dodgers wanted and much more. Every start is important at this point and he’s answered the bell every time, doing so again in a ridiculous way to dominate the Padres.
Scherzer had it all working and he had it early, pitching his third career immaculate inning in the 2nd of this game.
Another milestone that everybody was waiting on was his 3000th strikeout, and he got there in the 5th with Eric Hosmer being the victim.
Elite company for Max. pic.twitter.com/u2LrcUHiaE
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) September 12, 2021
Scherzer retired the first 22 batters he faced, seemingly getting past the hard part after he retired Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. for the third time of the game. However, his 3000th strikeout victim got some form of revenge by yanking a change down the line in right for a clean double. Scherzer, of course, rebounded right back with a ground out and a strikeout to end the inning.
With the big lead, Dave Roberts didn’t see a need to risk it, and Scherzer was out: 8 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K, 92 Pitches.
An Unexpected Pen Game
Familiar foe Blake Snell has been a pain in the side of the Dodgers, but he was the one who unfortunately felt pain this afternoon. After retiring the first two batters he faced, he threw a slider and then immediately headed towards the dugout while indicating he was done.
That basically forced a pen game, with Nabil Crismatt being first out. He faced some kind of threat in every inning he pitched, but didn’t give up a run. He entered with two outs in the 1st, gave up a single and a stolen base but escaped, then in the 2nd he got bailed out by Tommy Pham robbing Will Smith of either a homer or a double off the top of the wall. In the 3rd, he gave up a single that advanced on an out, but again didn’t allow the hit with RISP.
The 4th then belonged to Dinelson Lamet, who got two outs, but then gave up a first-pitch homer to Corey Seager, his 9th, to make it 1-0. That wasn’t the end of the trouble for him, as he issued back-to-back walks and was knocked out.
In relief was Pierce Johnson, who immediately ran up a 2-0 count to Gavin Lux before deciding to walk him intentionally and load the bases. The point of that was to face Scherzer, who of course doesn’t have a hit on the year, and he grounded out to end things.
Johnson continued on in the 5th but was greeted rudely by Mookie Betts‘ 21st dong of the year to double the lead to 2-0.
Ryan Weathers got a scoreless 6th, and continued in the 7th, giving up a hit to Lux (who is now 4 for his last 4) and a sac bunt from Scherzer before exiting.
Emilio Pagan entered and induced a Betts fly ball to right, but it was right into the sun and Wil Myers let it fall for a single to corner the runners. Max Muncy took advantage with a double into the right-field corner to make it 3-0.
Justin Turner then thankfully relieved the game of any tension in terms of results at least with a three-run homer, his 24th, to make it 6-0.
Austin Adams, the HBP man, lived up to his name in his appearance today. He hit Smith with a slider to start the inning, gave up a lined double to Cody Bellinger (who is looking better again), and then hit Lux on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases. After a strikeout, he hit Mookie with a pitch to force a run in, which tied an MLB record in the live ball era for HBP in a season at 23. A RELIEVER.
Anyway, Muncy then flew out to medium-deep left for a sacrifice fly to make it 8-0. But HBP man wasn’t done, as he tried to get #24 on the year via Trea Turner but barely missed. Trea later walked to load the bases again before Adams was able to close the book on the Dodgers.
Speaking of closing the book, Justin Bruihl did that in the 9th, getting three ground outs in a row.
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The Dodgers improve to 91-53 on the season, but after the Giants swept the Cubs, still remain 2.5 games back in the NL West.
Next up will be welcoming the Diamondbacks to Chavez Ravine tomorrow at 4:10 PM HT/7:10 PM PT/10:10 PM ET. Clayton Kershaw (3.39 ERA/2.99 FIP/3.23 xERA) will make his return from the IL and face Zac Gallen (4.32/4.24/3.67).
