Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
News broke this morning that MLB jumped the gun by saying the Dodgers made the playoffs after yesterday’s win due to their new tiebreaking rules, which was amusing if nothing else because they were bamboozled by their own shit.
Regardless, it didn’t take long for the Dodgers to make it official, as they notched their third win in a row with a 6-0 victory over the Diamondbacks to start their series.
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The D-backs offered up rookie pitcher Ryne Nelson in his second start to the best offense in baseball … and all he did was emphatically shut them down through six shutout.
Nelson didn’t allow a baserunner past first base until the 6th when Trea Turner smacked a two-out triple. Nelson then had his first inning giving up two baserunners when the D-backs elected to intentionally walk Freddie Freeman, but he navigated out of the threat to keep the game scoreless. Mercifully, that was the end of his night.
Relieving Ryne was Kyle Nelson, no relation, who promptly gave up a towering double off the center-field wall to Max Muncy in the 7th, then had a weird play on a comebacker from Justin Turner that resulted in no outs. Nelson then walked Chris Taylor to load the bases and that was it for him.
Trayce Thompson took advantage against Kevin Ginkel, hitting a sac fly to center for a 1-0 lead even after falling behind 0-2 in the count. Following him was his outfield competition in Cody Bellinger, who surprisingly smashed a two-run double to push the lead to 3-0.
After a quiet inning, the Dodgers added insurance in the 9th against Keynan Middleton. JT led things off with a single and with two outs Cody got his second hit with a single. That setup Mookie Betts, who used his chance to smash his 34th homer of the year to left to double the lead to 6-0.
Of course, that zero was up there because Tyler Anderson matched him on the other end. He actually only had a single 1-2-3 frame (in the 5th), but got a trio of double plays to help him avoid major trouble and stay efficient. While the D-backs threatened in the 4th with back-to-back singles to lead things off, and then in the 6th with a one-out double, Anderson avoided surrendering the potentially decisive hit.
Him being an easy playoff starter choice is not exactly what I expected: 7 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K, 84 Pitches.
The 8th belonged to Evan Phillips, who did what he has all year and cruised through a 10-pitch inning that included a strikeout. After the insurance was added, the game was handed over to Phil Bickford in the 9th, who got a perfect inning with a pair of strikeouts.
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The Dodgers get to 97-43 overall.
| TEAM | CHASE | GAMES |
|---|---|---|
| Astros | MLB | 6.5 Up |
| Mets | NL | 9 Up |
| Padres | NL West | 20.5 Up |
Same team, same time tomorrow at 3:40 PM HT/6:40 PM PT/9:40 PM ET with Clayton Kershaw continuing to build up against Merrill Kelly.
