Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
For Mother’s Day, the Dodgers continued their dominance of the Padres this year, taking an early lead and never looking back in a 4-0 shutout win to complete the sweep.
They are now a remarkable 13 of their last 15 overall with five wins in a row and five series wins in a row. They’ve also won five straight against the Padres and have won five of the six games against them this year.
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Tony Gonsolin‘s Spring Training appears to be about over, as while he got a bit fortunate today in terms of umpire help and sequencing, in terms of stuff he looked as sharp as ever.
Fernando Tatis Jr. led the game off with a double in the 1st, but that only amounted to him stealing third with two outs in the end. After a clean 2nd, a double that James Outman sorta misplayed in center led-off the 3rd, but Gonsolin also worked around that by only issuing a walk the rest of the way.
Gonsolin ended his day with clean frames in the 4th and 5th, retiring 10 in a row to close things out: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, 85 Pitches.
Opposing him was Ryan Weathers, who issued a walk in each of the first two frames (one was erased by a double play), but things remained scoreless.
The 3rd was a different story, as Miguel Rojas led off with a double, and as the Padres struggled with RISP, Mookie Betts took the first chance the Dodgers got and sent it over the wall for his 9th homer and a 2-0 lead.
After Weathers bounced back with a clean 4th, he then had a walk again erased by a double play in the 5th. Weathers then got two outs around a Freddie Freeman single to start the 6th, but issued a walk to Max Muncy that led to a pen call.
It didn’t help much, as Miguel Vargas stepped up and whacked a ball to left for a double and two more runs to double the lead to 4-0.
Stay hot, Miggy! pic.twitter.com/EZ6t37GpAH
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 14, 2023
That’s where the threat ended, and so did the scoring for the Dodgers, as they didn’t manage a baserunner the rest of the way.
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No matter.
In relief of Gonsolin was Yency Almonte in the 6th, who gave up a walk and a deep fly ball to the heart of the order, but kept the shutout intact. Victor Gonzalez and his flawless season followed, and got five outs in a row before issuing a walk to Tatis and being relieved. His 0.00 ERA stayed intact thanks to Brusdar Graterol, who allowed the runner to steal second, but got a groundout to end the 8th.
With a four-run lead it was Justin Bruihl in the 9th, and the only tension would be whether the shutout would remain. Indeed, Bruihl pitched around a double and ended the game with a strikeout.
Fun times.
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Mookie’s mom knows ball.
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| NL WEST | RECORD |
|---|---|
| Dodgers | 26-15 |
| Diamondbacks | 23-18 (3 GB) |
| Padres | 19-22 (7 GB) |
*Either still playing or will play later.
Next up the Dodgers will welcome in the Twins for a three-game series starting at the usual time of 4:10 PM HT/7:10 PM PT/10:10 PM ET. It’ll somehow be Noah Syndergaard (6.12 ERA/4.79 xERA/5.48 DRA) and his bloody finger against Pablo Lopez (3.47/3.38/3.50).
