Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
While I’m not certain on this, the Dodgers have to be the best team at alternating wins and losses, as they’ve now run their most recent streak to five games after today’s 9-4 victory over the Cubs.
While it was back-and-forth early, Max Muncy and James Outman quickly helped put it out of reach.
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The Dodgers got off to a quick start in the 1st against Hayden Wesneski, a pitcher I had honestly never heard of before, though it didn’t result in a ton of damage. A Mookie Betts single was followed by a Freddie Freeman double and Muncy walk to load the bases, but they only plated a run in the inning on a J.D. Martinez double play.
That was mainly because old friend Cody Bellinger made a jumping catch at the wall to rob Jason Heyward.
Unfortunately, Dustin May returned the favor to the Cubs a bit in their half of the inning, allowing a lead-off single followed by back-to-back walks to load the bases. Seiya Suzuki then grounded out but plated a run to tie things at 1-1, and May then got out of the jam from there.
The Dodgers came right back against Wesneski in the 2nd, as Outman led off by smashing a solo shot, his 6th dong of the year. 2-1.
James Outman cannot be stopped. pic.twitter.com/AozIMfB6QW
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 22, 2023
After a clean 3rd for Wesneski, the Dodgers extended the lead in the 4th behind a Martinez double and a bloop single from Outman to make it 3-1.
Going back to May, he set down nine in a row after loading the bases in the 1st, but that ended in the 4th as he started by hitting a batter. He did get the next two batters, but wasn’t able to avoid damage when Eric Hosmer doubled and cut the lead to 3-2. Hosmer advanced to third on a passed ball, but May was able to not allow further trouble.
After Wesneski got the first out of the 5th, an error allowed Mookie to reach and knocked him out of the game after just 4.1 innings of work. Mookie eventually stole second off the pen, but the Dodgers weren’t able to capitalize.
Fortunately, they were able to capitalize in the 6th. Martinez started things with a walk, Outman made it two on after blooping his third hit of the day in, and a pinch-hitting Miguel Vargas cashed that in with a single of his own to push the lead to 4-2. Back-to-back strikeouts then ended the frame, though.
After May got a clean inning in the 5th, he started the 6th with a walk and then got an out, subsequently being removed due to matchup and pitch count reasons.
His command wasn’t his best but he managed to miss bats: 5.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 6 K, 96 Pitches.
Alex Vesia was the first reliever out of the pen, and he issued a questionable four-pitch walk. A double steal followed that certainly seemed to look bad, but he got a foul out and a strikeout, an escape that he desperately needed.
The Dodgers then padded the lead in the 6th behind a Freddie walk that was moved to second on a balk before Max smashed his 9th dinger of the year to make it 6-2.
While Vesia had a nice outing, Yency Almonte‘s struggles continued, as he surrendered a walk in the 7th and then gave up a two-run shot to Nico Hoerner to cut the lead to 6-4.
After not being able to capitalize on a walk and steal in the 8th, the Dodgers saw who else but Muncy and Outman hit homers with a Heyward walk sandwiched between to push the lead to a comfortable 9-4.
Thankfully, the rest of the pen was solid. Caleb Ferguson allowed a seeing-eyed single but nothing else in the 8th, and Shelby Miller then closed out the 9th with a clean frame.
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Cody, lol.
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11-11, they’re mid again!
The final game of the four-game series is tomorrow at 8:20 AM HT/11:20 AM PT/2:20 PM ET (should be illegal to have three games in a row this early), and it’ll be Clayton Kershaw against Marcus Stroman.
