Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Well well well, all of a sudden the Dodgers have a five-game winning streak following another blowout win over the Phillies, this one by a 13-1 score.
The story was obviously Julio Urias bouncing back from some adversity, but the offense piled up 17 hits (7 XBH) as well.
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Urias hit a rough patch over his last two starts, giving up 11 runs in just 9 innings and generally contributing to the worries of Dodgers fans about the way the season was going at large. However, whatever adjustment he made between starts seemed to have worked, as his stuff ticked up and so did the results.
Urias was dominant to start, retiring the first eight batters of the game and only allowing a baserunner through a catcher’s interference in the 3rd. However, in the 4th he did allow a hit and damage on a Trea Turner solo shot to dead center.
There was literally nothing else to talk about the rest of the way, besides Urias’ dominance, as nothing happened through the 7th. Julio looked sharper than he has at any point during the year, and hopefully he can build off this: 7 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 10 K, 95 Pitches.
Fortunately, that run wasn’t a big deal for the Dodger bats today against Matt Strahm, who got roughed up a bit.
Things started early in the 1st after a Freddie Freeman double and Will Smith single cornered the runners, then Max Muncy lifted a sacrifice fly. They continued their assault in the 3rd behind a James Outman walk, Miguel Vargas double, and a Mookie Betts single to plate them both for a 3-0 lead.
After a rarity this series in the 3rd by going down in order and not scoring, the Dodgers got right back to it in the 4th. A Vargas double and a Miguel Rojas infield single spelled the end of the road for Strahm.
Against the pen, Mookie came through with another two-out hit, singling back up the middle for a 4-1 lead.
The bats stranded a double in the 5th and went down in order in the 6th, but the big inning came in the 7th.
Singles from Mookie and Will had runners cornered, and a Muncy walk loaded the bases. Chris Taylor then jammed one over third for a double and two runs, and Vargas smacked his third double of the night for another two runs to blow the game open at 8-1.
CT3 and Vargas getting hot would be a major boon for an offense that has largely struggled with lengthening the lineup with quality at-bats.
The blowout was then on in the 8th after Michael Busch walked and Freddie followed with a two-run homer, his 5th of the year.
Things didn’t end there, as a Muncy single was followed by a CT3 walk, which put position player Kody Clemens back in to pitch. He gave up singles to Outman, Vargas, and Rojas, then walked Austin Barnes with the bases loaded to give up three more runs for the final of 13-1.
Busch also made his second out in as many games against Clemens, though at least he didn’t strikeout this time.
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To close things out was Alex Vesia in the 8th, and he looked like he might struggle again after a walk and single, but credit to him as he knuckled down for a scoreless frame.
Phil Bickford was given the 9th, and he was impressive in striking out the side on 13 pitches to slam the door.
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18-13 … are they good?
The Dodgers go for their second sweep in a row early tomorrow at 10:10 AM HT/1:10 PM PT/4:10 PM ET with Gavin Stone making his debut against Aaron Nola.
