Dodgers 3, Marlins 1: Mookie Betts homers twice in front of King James, Julio Urias continues hot August

Chad Moriyama 08/19/2023 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

Well, that concludes a long day, and it was a good day of baseball for the Dodgers at least. After winning the first game with a late comeback by a 3-1 score, the Dodgers won this one 3-1 over the Marlins as well by riding Mookie Betts‘ dong … bat to a lead and leaning on Julio Urias and the pen to keep it.

The Dodgers have won 17 of their last 19 and six series in a row.

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Following his July 25 start against the Orioles, Urias had a season-high 5.02 ERA, and things looked rather bleak. He’s righted the ship in August, giving up just three runs in 18 August innings, striking out 22 and walking just two.

He looked to continue that against the Marlins, though they struck first against him behind a Josh Bell two-out homer in the 1st that put them up 1-0.

Fortunately, while the offense wasn’t great against Braxton Garrett, they did back him with some support. After getting just a single in the 1st, the new lefty killers came through in the 2nd, as Amed Rosario led off with a double, and Enrique Hernandez eventually drove him in with two outs thanks to a single that tied the game at 1-1.

Then in the 3rd, Betts struck, smashing his 33rd homer and giving LeBron James a salute in the stands.

So that was cool enough, but after a quiet 4th, Mookie decided he wasn’t done and smashed his 34th homer of the year in the 5th to make it 3-1. Enough to get the King to doff his hat to Mookie.

Going back to Urias, there’s been a long time away cause he was keeping the Marlins at bay. After a clean 2nd, he got in trouble by hitting a batter and giving up a single to start the 3rd, but battled to make sure they didn’t move to end the threat.

Urias then faced the minimum in the 4th after seeing a single erased by a double play, and cruised through both the 5th and 6th with clean innings, with help from Miguel Rojas.

The 7th was a bit more dramatic, as a lead-off single led to two in scoring position after a two-out double, but Urias escaped that as well by inducing a routine fly out to complete his seven innings of quality work.

7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 5 K, 100 Pitches

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After Garrett got a clean 6th, he gave way to the Marlins pen, who proceeded to the final six outs in order.

No insurance? No matter.

First out of the pen in the 8th was Ryan Brasier, and while he gave up a single, there wasn’t much tension to the outing, as he got a scoreless inning that was punctuated by a strikeout.

To close the game out was Brusdar Graterol in the 9th, who ran into some issues with giving up contact. A single to start was followed by a potential double play that took an awkward bounce for just one out, and Amed Rosario made a diving play to save a hit.

After another single put a pair on, a stolen base on a check swing that sure looked like a strikeout put two into scoring position. No matter, as Enrique Hernandez ended the game on a gem to secure the win.

Easy … ish.

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NL WESTRECORD
Dodgers76-47
Giants64-59 (12 GB)

*Either still playing or will play later.

Due to the scheduling change that required a doubleheader today, the Dodgers have the next two days off before having to play the Guardians in Cleveland at 1:10 PM HT/4:10 PM PT/7:10 PM ET on Tuesday. It’ll be Clayton Kershaw facing off against old “friend” Noah Syndergaard, and he better not throw a shutout.

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