Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers completed their weekend with a sweep of the Cardinals thanks to a 6-3 win this afternoon. A back-and-forth game, it was a battle of the pens in the end that the Dodgers won.
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Noah Syndergaard started the day well, notching a clean 1st against the Cardinals to start. However, in the 2nd, he allowed a single and a double to set the table for a Dylan Carlson sacrifice fly and a Brendan Donovan single to make it 2-0 early.
Fortunately, opposing Thor was a pitcher who was also struggling, and Jake Woodford didn’t have a clean frame. In the 1st he managed to work around a lead-off double by Mookie Betts, but in the 2nd, a Jason Heyward lead-off double was cashed in after James Outman being robbed of a hit advanced him to third and a Miguel Vargas groundout plated him to cut the lead to 2-1.
Woodford worked around more trouble in the 3rd after he allowed a single and hit a batter, but the 4th was a disaster. He started with back-to-back walks for Heyward and Outman, then was bailed out by a Donovan diving stop on a Vargas ball hit down the line. That did advance the runners, which meant David Peralta‘s grounder tied the game and Chris Taylor‘s two-out double gave the Dodgers a 3-2 lead.
After a walk to Mookie followed, Woodford’s day was done, though the Dodgers couldn’t add anything further in the 4th.
Unfortunately, that lead didn’t last long at all. Syndergaard worked around a single in the 3rd and 4th, but in the 5th a double and then a single from Lars Nootbaar tied things up at 3-3 before he was able to get through the frame.
The Dodgers fought right back in their half of the 5th, starting with a Will Smith bloop double and then loading the bases on back-to-back walks from Max Muncy and Heyward. After Outman had a brutal three-pitch K, a wild pitch with Vargas at the plate led to a run and a 4-3 lead. Vargas then walked to re-load the bases, and a Peralta grounder avoided a double play to tack on another run and make it 5-3 before the threat ended with runners at the corners.
They sent Syndergaard back out there for the 6th, where he allowed a single and then got an out, but that was it for him on the day. Not exactly a promising line despite not being a disaster: 5.1 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 0 K, 73 Pitches.
Caleb Ferguson was first out of the pen, getting the final two outs of the 6th without much issue. Next up was Alex Vesia in the 7th, who entered with a WHIP of 3 and had an ominous start with a bunt single that Muncy didn’t play well. He rebounded with back-to-back strikeouts, and Dave Roberts turned to Brusdar Graterol got the final out of the frame.
Yency Almonte was tipped for the 8th and given a clean inning, he cruised through a nine-pitch frame that included a strikeout.
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While all of this was going on, the Dodgers lineup had just managed a single and a stolen base in the 6th and 7th, but they made themselves felt in the 8th again. A Taylor single and stolen base was followed by a Mookie walk, and then a wild pitch advanced both runners. That allowed Freddie Freeman to be intentionally walked, and Smith to tack on with a sacrifice fly for a 6-3 advantage.
That put Evan Phillips on the mound to close things out in the 9th, and he started with a nasty strikeout, but then allowed a single. Though that was erased by a quick double play that ended the frame and completed the sweep.
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16-13, I’m shocked.
The Dodgers will welcome the Phillies in tomorrow at 4:10 PM HT/7:10 PM PT/10:10 PM ET, and it’ll be Tony Gonsolin against Taijuan Walker to start.
