Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
After an off day, Bobby Miller hopefully gave Dodger fans a taste of his future, as he sat down the last 18 batters he faced in likely his most impressive start to date. While he left a tie game, the lineup rallied against the Brewers for a five-run frame in the 6th, and that was enough to secure a 6-2 victory.
The Dodgers have now won nine in a row, 13 of their last 14 games, and will go for five straight series wins in a row tomorrow.
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Coming off a scoreless outing, Bobby Miller’s day didn’t get off to the best of starts tonight. The game started with a single on the first pitch Miller threw, he then lost a 1-2 count for a walk, and a fly ball hit to the warning track left the runners cornered. Despite that, Sal Frelick‘s groundout that avoided a double play was the only damage done in the inning, which certainly could’ve ended worse than 1-0 to the Brewers.
Thankfully, things got better from there, as despite hard contact it was a 12-pitch frame that went 1-2-3 in the 2nd. Miller followed that with a 3rd that took 14 pitches to get through in clean fashion, including Miller’s first strikeout, and he took just 13 pitches to strikeout two batters in a perfect 4th.
Bobby Miller 101 painted at the top of the zone. pic.twitter.com/k8BYkno4gY
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) August 16, 2023
Miller followed that with two more clean frames, with the 5th taking just 10 pitches and the 6th taking just nine, which was punctuated with a strikeout.
Actually, after the first two batters of the game reached, Miller retired 18 in a row. Dominant.
Bobby Miller's fastball up and curve down on consecutive pitches in the same tunnel is nasty work. pic.twitter.com/izu8rpwsaA
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) August 16, 2023
That was it for him, which I was alright with for a variety of reasons: 6 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 4 K, 74 Pitches.
He's also likely starting again Sunday, on 4 days rest
— Eric Stephen (@ericstephen) August 16, 2023
FWIW, Roberts during pregame was noncommittal about Miller getting a longer leash
Unfortunately, on the other end, Brewers starter Adrian Houser was cruising. He needed just eight pitches to get through the 1st, struck out two in the 2nd, and took just six pitches to work through the 3rd.
The perfecto was broken up in the 4th, as a Mookie Betts grounder took a diving play to stop for an infield single. Then an error on a Freddie Freeman grounder suddenly put a pair on, but an foul pop and a pair of strikeouts ended the threat (including a near-miss on a three-run homer).
Horseshoes and hand grenades. pic.twitter.com/ISeOVsJCw3
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) August 16, 2023
The 5th started promisingly as well behind a David Peralta single through the legs of Houser and a Jason Heyward missile into the right-center field gap for a double. After a strikeout put the rally in doubt, Miguel Rojas continued his RBI ways by grounding a ball hard back up the middle that required a nice play from Willy Adames to get the out, but a run came home to tie things up at 1-1.
Thankfully, the 6th proved to be pivotal for the Dodgers and the game. With one out, Will Smith hit a grounder to Andruw Monasterio, who threw high to pull Carlos Santana off the bag for an error. That opened the floodgates, as Max Muncy followed with a single, J.D. Martinez then doubled to left for a run, the lead, and to knock Houser out of the game.
With a lefty reliever entering, Dave Roberts deployed his matchups, as Enrique Hernandez hit for Peralta and singled up the middle against a drawn-in infield for a pair to make it 4-1.
Dodgers score three on Just Doubles (who then Just Dances), and then Enrique Hernandez again coming up big with a single to cap a nine-pitch at-bat. pic.twitter.com/SJdkDtWdFt
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) August 16, 2023
Amed Rosario then hit for Heyward and popped foul, which was surprising, but no matter, as James Outman singled to put a pair back on base. New butter and egg man Rojas continued to provide with an RBI single to knock the lefty out of the game, and Mookie followed against a new reliever with an RBI single of his own to make it 6-1 for a five-run inning.
Mookie Betts follows with and RBI single of his own and it's 6-1 in a flash. pic.twitter.com/sbcpM9VRYg
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) August 16, 2023
That was it for the Dodgers offense, as they managed just a single between the 7th and 8th innings.
It didn’t matter much.
In relief of Miller was Ryan Yarbrough in his piggyback/bulk boi role to start the 7th, and while he had been basically flawless prior to tonight, he started by giving up a massive dong to old friend Carlos Santana to make it 6-2.
He did rebound with a pair of infield pops and a strikeout to end the 7th, and then got a 1-2-3 frame in the 8th as well.
Unfortunately, as it pleases Eric Stephen of True Blue LA, Yarbrough continued in the 9th looking for a three-inning save. Well, he did just that and made it look easy on just seven pitches to complete an impressive game.
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Mookie shared a great story on Twitter, and like I said on there, I’d just go with Mookie Mancuso.
One of the coolest moments of ya boy’s entire career! Bro is a man of his word 😂👶🏼 #babymookie pic.twitter.com/rVIG4VWJVe
— Mookie Betts (@mookiebetts) August 15, 2023
Erik Kratz talked about the investment the Dodgers make into player development, plus some clubbie testimony.
Cool. pic.twitter.com/Gl3WqLXQZC
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) August 16, 2023
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| NL WEST | RECORD |
|---|---|
| Dodgers | 72-46 |
| Giants | 64-56 (9 GB) |
*Either still playing or will play later.
The two teams will do it again tomorrow at the same time of 4:10 PM HT/7:10 PM PT/10:10 PM ET with Clayton Kershaw looking to continue to bounce back after injury against Wade Miley.
