Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
After a day off, the Dodgers started their road trip in San Diego against the Padres with a decisive 6-1 victory.
A pair of homers from Mookie Betts and one from Max Muncy can be seen as a sign that the offense is really about to get going now, and they were enough to support a quality Julio Urias.
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Looking to build on his start last time out, Julio Urias took to the mound and got a clean 1st. However, the 2nd was a bit of a mess as he didn’t look sharp and at times was very visibly frustrated with his pitches. A one-out walk was followed by a laser off the wall in right that was hit so hard it was a single to corner the runners, and a Wil Myers ground out plated the game’s first run. Another walk followed and then Julio escaped trouble with a strikeout, limiting the deficit to 1-0.
Thankfully, Julio settled in after that. He gave up just a single in the 3rd, had a clean 4th, and worked around a walk in the 5th. That was the end of his night as he continues to build up his pitch count, but the upside was that his fastball velocity was up again and he was consistently touching 94 mph late: 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 6 K, 75 Pitches.
The bats of the Dodgers seemed like an ideal matchup against Padres starter Nick Martinez, who relies a ton on guys chasing. That scouting report was accurate, but the Dodgers struggled to actually hit early.
They threatened in the 1st with a single, stolen base, and walk, but didn’t get anything. After pitching around a single in the 2nd, Martinez walked the bases loaded in the 3rd but was bailed out by Justin Turner grounding into a double play. Martinez then walked another runner in the 4th, but the Dodgers couldn’t capitalize.
The 5th was when things changed as the Dodgers finally started hitting the balls thrown down the middle of the plate. It started with Mookie drilling an absolute no-doubter to left for the lead and then Muncy later in the inning crushing an absolute skyscraper to right that made it 2-0.
That knocked Martinez out for Nabil Crismatt, who got out of the 5th and then worked around a walk for a scoreless 6th. Crismatt also started the 7th, where he issued a lead-off walk to Mookie and was removed for Tim Hill. That proved to be … problematic, as Hill allowed all three batters he faced to reach. A Freddie Freeman single shot down the line in left was followed by a Trea Turner infield single to load the bases, and then Muncy worked a 3-2 count and drilled a ball back up the middle to plate two and make it 4-0.
Dinelson Lamet, now a reliever, entered and got a double play on a sacrifice fly to left from JT, as Max rather hilariously got doubled up.
For the pen of the Dodgers, Daniel Hudson was first out and only allowed a runner who reached on an error in the 6th. Evan Phillips then continued his run of absolute dominance, retiring all three batters he faced, including two strikeouts. That’s now 16 in a row for him. In the 8th, Phil Bickford allowed a single and got two outs, then Alex Vesia slammed the door with a strikeout.
Meanwhile, Craig Stammen was given a clean inning for the Padres in the 8th and kept things clean. But in the 9th, Mookie led off with another homer to make it 6-1.
That allowed for David Price to comfortably finish the game for the Dodgers, giving up a double to Eric Hosmer but otherwise having no issues.
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At least we had some fun during the game.
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The Dodgers are now 10-3 and have won two in a row.
The two teams will do it again tomorrow an hour earlier at 2:40 PM HT/5:40 PM PT/8:40 PM ET with Tyler Anderson getting his first start in place of injured Andrew Heaney and facing off against Yu Darvish.
