Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers closed out the first half of their 2022 season by completing the mini-sweep of the Angels in an emphatic 7-1 victory. They have also swept the season series with four wins, as the two do not play again this year.
That’s now four in a row for the Dodgers and a remarkable 15 of their last 17 heading into the All-Star break.
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The Dodgers did all their damage with the long ball tonight, and they started early with Trea Turner smashing a solo shot in the 1st for an early lead. It was also Trea again in the 3rd, this time a two-run shot as it followed a Gavin Lux walk, which was his 14th of the year.
But they weren’t done there, as Freddie Freeman doubled, then Justin Turner walked, and Max Muncy stepped up and crushed a three-run shot, his ninth. Then in the 5th came the fourth homer of the game with Freddie crushing a solo shot of his own, his 13th for a 7-0 lead.
Though they threatened in the 6th, ultimately those homers were all the offense they got for the game. Thankfully it was more than enough.
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On the other end was Julio Urias, who looked dominant early, only surrendering singles in the 1st and 3rd innings as he continued to roll along. The 6th was when the Angels put together a rally, starting the inning with back-to-back singles to corner the runners, but Urias buckled down and got a shallow fly, a strikeout, and a groundout to escape unscathed.
Unfortunately, he could not say the same of the 7th as the homer bug bit him again through a Brandon Marsh solo shot, but that was all he surrendered. Julio completed his impressive first half with seven solid: 7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 8 K, 91 Pitches.
To end the game, Caleb Ferguson was given the 8th. He actually allowed back-to-back one-out singles to give the Angels another scoring chance, but he wiggled out of it with back-to-back groundouts. The 9th then belonged to Phil Bickford, who got a clean frame with a strikeout, groundout, and another strikeout.
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The Dodgers improve to 60-30 on the year, are on a 108-win pace, and are 9.5 games up on the Padres in the NL West.
Of course, now the All-Star break is upon us and the Dodgers will be back in action next week on July 21 at home against the Giants at 4:00 PM HT/7:00 PM PT/10:00 PM ET.
