After a 7-2 win over the rival Giants tonight, the Dodgers now have 100 wins on the year and have now won their last five series.
This team is … ridiculous.
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Facing off against the ace of the Dodgers was a Giants pen game, and for the most part that went as expected.
The lineup got on the board in the 2nd behind a Justin Turner single that was immediately followed by a Trayce Thompson homer, his 11th of the year.
That was only a taste of what was to come, however. The 3rd started off with a Trea Turner single, and he advanced to second on a pickoff attempt error, and got to third on a passed ball. Trea then scored on a Freddie Freeman single off the wall in right, and after a Will Smith infield single to third, Max Muncy and JT put up back-to-back RBI singles to make it a crooked number.
A walk to TT followed to load the bases with nobody out, but the Dodgers were only able to get one more run out of it on a Joey Gallo grounder. All of a sudden they had six runs.
Trea then led off the 4th with a single, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and got to third on an out. Max drew a walk to extend the inning with two outs, and JT took advantage with his third hit of the night to make it 7-2.
That was it for the bats, but that was more than enough.
The story of how the Giants got the two runs is a bit messy, at least initially. Actually, they got the first run of the game against Julio Urias, though not exactly through fault of his own.
An infield single that Muncy couldn’t barehand was followed by a strikeout, then a weakly-hit routine grounder to Trea was dropped in the transfer out of the glove for an error. That could’ve easily been the inning, but instead after a stolen base it was runners cornered with one out.
Still, Julio battled back, inducing a grounder to short that was a nice double-play ball to get him out of the inning. However, the feed from Trea was slow and the throw from Gavin Lux was low, and Freddie couldn’t dig it out for once so a run crossed the plate. Yeesh.
The second run came in more typical Julio fashion in that it was via a Wilmer Flores solo homer in the 3rd. But he didn’t allow anything else in the start, despite also never having a single clean inning.
Oddly enough, these are the kinds of starts that show he’s ascended in status, not having his best and battling his defense but getting it done anyway: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 8 K, 98 Pitches.
The 7th was given to Tommy Kahnle, who got two outs on a pair of strikeouts, but also hit (grazed) a batter and issued a 3-2 walk that was enough pitches for him coming back from injury.
Chris Martin took over and immediately got an infield pop hit in a bit of an awkward spot to escape the 7th. Then he continued in the 8th and cruised through a 1-2-3 frame with a pair of strikeouts.
To finish the game off with the five-run lead was Justin Bruihl, who closed things out with a 10-pitch inning.
Ho hum.
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Hey, remember that odd “rivalry” that Jarlin Garcia has with Mookie? Well it continued tonight.
My initial reaction is like, “Well fuck this guy.” However, this is also the most entertainment I’ve gotten out of these Giants matchups this year, so as long as it doesn’t lead to beanballs … whatever.
On a lighter note … this:
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That’s 100-44 on the year, which is ridiculous in how routine that number has become for the Dodgers.
TEAM | CHASE | GAMES |
---|---|---|
Astros | MLB | 6 Up |
Mets | NL | 9.5 Up |
Clinched | NL West | Doesn’t Matter |
The Dodgers will go for the sweep tomorrow a bit earlier at 1:00 PM HT/4:00 PM PT/7:00 PM ET with Andrew Heaney facing Alex Cobb.