Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers have started off their series against the Padres in ideal fashion, taking the first two games of the matchup and securing at least a split after a 5-1 victory tonight.
The team has now won three in a row and Tony Gonsolin is 10-0 after having his longest start of his career in a dominating performance.
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Blake Snell‘s history with the Dodgers has been covered to death, but he does do well against them historically and missed a ton of bats today. However, he didn’t last long at least.
The Dodgers also got to him first with a Max Muncy homer, his seventh, providing an early 1-0 lead.
From there the Dodgers ran Snell’s pitch count way up, leading to his exit after just five with 107 pitches. Of course, the problem is he only allowed the one run.
The Dodgers stranded a double and steal from Snell’s father, Austin Barnes, with one out in the 3rd, a walk and a double with one out in the 4th, and a single, wild pitch, and walk with two out in the 5th.
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It’s hard to be surprised anymore by anything Gonsolin does, but instead of regressing, he’s just getting better. Today, he basically only got hit by two guys in the Padres lineup and absolutely carved the rest.
Jurickson Profar had a double in the 1st and the 3rd and Trent Grisham tied the game in the 5th with a homer and had a single in the 8th, those were the only baserunners Gonsolin gave up all night. That’s it.
7.2 innings is a career long, but he actually exited at just 92 pitches as well, though it was likely the right call by Dave Roberts given who was up.
Evan Phillips made it pay off by inducing a harmless groundout to end the 8th.
He absolutely has to be in contention to start the All-Star Game in Los Angeles: 7.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 8 K, 92 Pitches.
While all this was going on, the Padres pen was in and that was where the Dodgers had more success. Cody Bellinger smashed a dinger in the 6th, his 11th, to break the tie and make it 2-1.
Then in the 7th, Trea Turner singled, stole second, and Freddie Freeman responded to chants of “Freddie! Freddie! Freddie!” with a double for insurance and a 3-1 lead.
Still the game was within striking distance for the Padres, but not so much after the 8th, when a Chris Taylor single was followed by a Trayce Thompson double, a Bellinger sac fly off a LOOGY (!!!), and an Barnes ground out to force another run in for a 5-1 cushion.
That left things up to Craig Kimbrel, who honestly continued to look better, getting the side in order.
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The Dodgers are 48-28 on the year now and hold a 3.5-game lead over the Padres.
Tomorrow should be an interesting one on FOX at 1:15 PM HT/4:15 PM PT/7:15 PM ET with Tyler Anderson facing Yu Darvish.
