Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Well, all good things must come to an end, and the Dodgers saw their seven-game win streak come to a sudden halt against a stellar Max Fried and the Braves by a 3-1 final.
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Walker Buehler has not looked like Walker Buehler so far in 2022, and that generally continued tonight, as he didn’t have a single clean inning.
The scoring got started in the 2nd when Travis d’Arnaud jumped on a first-pitch fastball for a homer to left to make it 1-0.
The 3rd started ominously with a bloop double and a walk, but a double play helped Buehler to escape without damage. He couldn’t do the same in the 4th when a lead-off single was eventually cashed in on a two-out double by Orlando Arcia. A similar story played out in the 5th as well, where a broken bat single and stolen base setup a scoring chance, and Austin Riley cashed it in with two outs on a check-swing single that made it 3-0.
All told, he was unlucky a few times but he still doesn’t look sharp: 5 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 79 Pitches.
Despite Buehler’s pitch count, it was Evan Phillips in the 6th, who got the first 1-2-3 frame, including a strikeout.
David Price had a much more adventurous 7th, as he gave up a lead-off double and then got screwed by Trea Turner a bit as he took his time on a grounder for an infield single. However, back-to-back strikeouts and a great play by Mookie Betts in right kept the deficit at three.
The 8th belonged to Alex Vesia, who gave up two singles, but worked around them for a scoreless inning. He gave way to Justin Bruihl, who cruised through a clean 9th.
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Needless to say, his counterpart Max Fried wasn’t having similar problems. In fact, he was perfect through five innings before Hanser Alberto broke things up with a single.
But even that didn’t stop Fried, as he ended up facing the minimum through six thanks to a double play. Fried allowed an infield single in the 7th, but also struck out three batters to cap off his day of seven shutout innings.
Tyler Matzek had a surprisingly messy 8th inning, walking Chris Taylor then seeing him advance first to third on a wild pitch. He was later cashed in on a Hanser groundout to make it 3-1 and at least avoid being shutout.
Because this had to happen at some point, Kenley Jansen entered for the save in the 9th. He got an unfortunately mixed reaction, and then got the side in order for the save.
It’s over, sadly.
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Hanser continues to be fun.
The Dodgers humiliated themselves in front of Kendrick Lamar.
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The Dodgers fall to 8-3 with the loss and have also dropped their first game at home (5-1).
The rubber match of the series will be played early tomorrow at 9:10 AM HT/12:10 PM PT/3:10 PM ET with Tony Gonsolin matching up against Charlie Morton.
