Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
After an early explosion of runs for the Dodgers, I was looking forward to a nice and easy game, but instead we got a wild one as the Giants stormed back to tie things late, and then the Dodgers came back from their letdown in dramatic fashion to take a 9-6 victory over the rival Giants.
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Hey, what better way to get the second half of the season off with a red-hot rivalry matchup and Giants ace Carlos Rodon against … um, Mitch White? Didn’t seem to be the marquee matchup ESPN would’ve wanted, but it was White who got the better of Rodon.
The Dodgers offense started early against Rodon behind who else but Freddie Freeman, who stayed hot with his 14th homer of the year.
Things continued in the 2nd behind a Hanser Alberto single and Trayce Thompson doubling him in to left for a 2-0 lead.
The Dodgers then made it three innings in a row behind a Trea Turner single, Freddie walk, and later two-out back-to-back doubles from Justin Turner and Hanser for three runs to make it 5-0. That rally was thanks to Luis Gonzalez doing … well, whatever this was after losing it in the lights.
As all of this was going on, White was near flawless, carrying a no-hitter into the 6th inning. He retired eight straight Giants to start before back-to-back walks in the 3rd, but he worked out of that by getting the next seven in a row.
After a single broke up the no-hitter, Dave Roberts came out to get him, as he did labor a bit in the game: 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K, 82 Pitches.
So that was surely enough for the Dodgers pen to cruise, right? Unfortunately, no. Caleb Ferguson started things right with a dominant 6th after White exited, striking out two and getting four outs.
That brought in Phil Bickford, who continued to struggle. He retired no batters, giving up a solo shot to Evan Longoria, walking a batter, and giving up a single before being yanked. Alex Vesia was tasked with bailing him out, but immediately hit a batter to load the bases. He seemed on the verge of getting out of it after a strikeout, but then missed right down the middle on a 2-2 pitch to Darin Ruf, who crushed it for a grand slam to tie the game, 5-5.
It was bad.
Surprisingly things didn’t get better even with Evan Phillips in the game. A lead-off walk was followed by a double, and after a groundout didn’t advance the runners, an intentional walk loaded the bases to setup the double play. That backfired as Phillips walked in a run before escaping disaster, and the Giants had a 6-5 lead all of a sudden.
Thankfully, that seemed to just be setting up things for a dramatic win. Against the pen to this point, the Dodgers had a quiet 6th and a small rally in the 7th (double, intentional walk), but the 8th was when they exploded. A Gavin Lux double down the line in left was later followed by a two-out Trayce double off the wall in center to tie the game at 6-6.
After Cody Bellinger was walked on four pitches, Mookie Betts made the Giants pay by lashing his 21st dinger of the year, a game-winning three-run shot for a 9-6 lead.
Somehow Mookie’s night got even better, as Craig Kimbrel entered the 9th for the save, and allowed a one-out bunt single but was prevented from having to face the tying run when Mookie robbed Joc Pederson with a diving play in the corner to end the game.
Sheesh.
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Trying anything.
Hat.
Billie Eilish in the house.
Lobster.
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The Dodgers are 61-30 and are 10.5 games up on the Padres in the NL West.
They’ll do it again tomorrow around the same time at 4:10 PM HT/7:10 PM PT/10:10 PM ET with Tyler Anderson facing off against Logan Webb.
