Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Well, these have certainly been some of the most entertaining games to start the second half of the season.
After yesterday’s back-and-forth contest that Mookie Betts used as his personal highlight reel, today’s game was deadlocked until late when Cody Bellinger stepped up in grand fashion for a 5-1 victory over the Giants.
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As mentioned, things were tight for the most part. But they also started off on a promising note for the Dodgers against Logan Webb. In fact, they loaded the bases in the 1st behind a Mookie single and back-to-back two-out walks from Will Smith and Max Muncy. Gavin Lux then drew another walk to force Mookie home for an early lead, but Jake Lamb popped out to give Webb an escape hatch.
Webb also faced trouble in the next inning, having the runners at the corners with just one out in the 2nd, but wiggling out of that as well. From there he settled in, only facing a RISP in the 5th due to a pair of two-out singles, and he made it through the 6th with only the one run allowed.
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Meanwhile, Tyler Anderson was mostly cruising along, retiring eight in a row to start the game. He faced some two-out trouble in the 3rd but avoided damage, but couldn’t pull off the same feat when victimized by a Muncy error in the 4th. Technically, he allowed three singles in the inning, including the game-tying one to Yermin Mercedes, but it was Muncy’s errant throw that put the runner at third and made it a 1-1 tie.
Honestly, that was about it for the Giants against Anderson, who looked every bit the All-Star yet again: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R (0 ER), 2 BB, 6 K, 91 Pitches.
So with both starters out, that made things a battle of the pens, both of whom were disastrous yesterday.
For the Dodgers, David Price got a clean frame in the 7th, but Yency Almonte allowed a one-out single and a two-out walk in the 8th to give the Giants a threat. Dave Roberts turned to Alex Vesia, who allowed a grand slam yesterday, and he rewarded his manager’s faith with a ground out.
That bought enough time for the lineup on the other side to do something. After just a single in the 7th, the Dodgers loaded the bases in the 8th behind a Freddie Freeman single, Max reaching on an error, and Lamb getting hit by a pitch. However, while there were two down while Bellinger stepped to the plate, he played hero much like he did in the last two playoff runs, drilling a dramatic grand slam for a 5-1 lead and his 12th homer of the year.
Craig Kimbrel then entered in the 9th and made things somewhat fun with a single and a double but eventually got out of it with no runs allowed.
Phew.
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62-30 on the year.
Doing it all again tomorrow.
