Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
After seeing their seven-game winning streak ended last night, the Dodgers got up for the day game today and hopefully got another one off to a start after cruising to a 5-1 victory over the Braves to take the series.
While the scoreline didn’t really indicate it, the game never felt in danger thanks to Freddie Freeman homering early for the lead and Tony Gonsolin barely allowing any traffic in an excellent start.
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In stark contrast to last game, Charlie Morton took the mound and was immediately greeted by Mookie Betts ripping a single and Freeman following up by lining a ball over the wall in right for a 2-0 lead.
They didn’t really build on that immediately, though. They stranded a walk in the 1st, a lead-off double in the 2nd, a walk in the 3rd, and went down clean in the 4th.
Edwin Rios did help to extend the lead in the 5th, finally showing off his power again by crushing one to right for a 3-0 lead, complete with Hanser Alberto … doing something.
Morton faced traffic again in the 6th after walking Will Smith, and he faced the suddenly hot Cody Bellinger, who had a double earlier and then barely missed a double foul and a homer with a deep fly out in his previous at-bat. Most importantly he’s taking quality at-bats regularly now, and he had another one that knocked Morton out of the game, working a 3-2 count and then staying on a breaking ball down the line in right to score Smith and make it 4-0.
While Tony Gonsolin has been effective at limiting damage in his career, he has struggled at times with pitch counts and traffic on the bases. However, he looked extremely sharp today, facing just two over the minimum in six shutout innings.
Gonsolin issued a walk in the 2nd that was erased by a double play, and walked another in the 4th. In the 6th, he had his no-hitter broken up by an infield single, but that was erased with a double play, and he was charged with a questionable walk in the inning as well.
That was it, as Tony really wants to keep that rotation spot: 6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K, 83 Pitches.
For the 7th, the pen entered, starting with Brusdar Graterol. He was dominant again, keeping his 0.00 ERA intact with a clean inning that included another whiff on the slider.
Meanwhile, Collin McHugh relieved Morton and got through the 6th, but he wasn’t able to do the same in the 7th. He issued a walk to Mookie, gave up Freeman’s third hit of the game, and then Justin Turner singled to make it 5-0 and knock him out.
Tyler Thornburg was brought in to get the last out of the 7th, and then the other Will Smith worked around a walk for a scoreless 8th.
For the Dodgers, now with a bigger lead, Mitch White entered in the 8th and faced the minimum thanks to a double play despite a walk. In the 9th, he struck out the first two batters, but then allowed back-to-back doubles to ruin the shutout, but rebounded to complete a 5-1 win.
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Bellinger showing promising signs. The breakout was never the power, which was always there, but the approach and contact.
Gavin Lux doing some weird shit to heal his back.
Hanser!
Joe Davis and Orel Hershiser, everybody.
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The Dodgers improve to 9-3 on the season, which is good.
After an off-day tomorrow to “travel” to San Diego, the Dodgers begin a three-game series with the Padres at 3:40 PM HT/6:40 PM PT/9:40 PM ET with Julio Urias looking to build on his last start, facing off against Nick Martinez.
