Dodgers 7, Giants 2: Emmet Sheehan helps push rival Giants further into the mud

Chad Moriyama 09/21/2023 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

After the winning streak ended last night, a series with the rival Giants started with the Dodgers getting back to their winning ways. After being relatively close for most of the game, the Dodgers ended up blowing it open late thanks to Giants miscues, as they certainly didn’t seem like a team fighting for their playoff lives in a 7-2 loss.

The Dodgers have now won six of their last seven, and Brusdar Graterol‘s mom is starting Game 2 of the NLDS.

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While not the story of the game, Kyle Harrison was generally effective in his own right. After setting down the first six batters he faced, a lead-off double from Chris Taylor was moved to third on a lineout and then scored on a sacrifice fly from Enrique Hernandez for a lead.

Then in the next inning it was J.D. Martinez going oppo for his 30th dong of the year to make it 2-0 in the 4th.

Understandably though, the excitement tonight was about Emmet Sheehan, who dominated the Giants. He started with a pair of strikeouts in a clean 1st, and followed that by striking out the side in the 2nd on just 12 pitches.

Sheehan then struck out two more in the 3rd and was perfect at that point. That ended with one-out in the 4th when he issued a walk, but he then immediately got a double play to still be facing the minimum and keep the no-hitter intact.

Unfortunately, things did unravel a bit after getting the first two batters of the 5th, though not all through Sheehan’s doing. After a hit batter, he issued a “walk” after he basically should’ve had an end of inning with a strikeout.

That was followed by two more walks that eventually forced a run in and spelled the end of Sheehan’s night.

Still, it’s hard not to be optimistic about how he looked, and you hope he has this stuff in a playoff appearance: 4.2 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 4 BB, 9 K, 93 Pitches.

That one run stayed at one run thanks to Alex Vesia coming and getting a strikeout on three pitches to end the 5th.

Unfortunately, while he got a pair of outs in the 6th, he also gave up a homer to Joc Pederson that tied the game at 2-2. Shelby Miller then entered to get the final out of the 6th.

Back to the Giants, as the bats didn’t get anything off Harrison in the 5th, and by the time he exited with one out in the 6th, he had only given up three hits.

No worries, as Will Smith started an immediate rally against their pen with a triple off the glove of a diving center fielder that bounced onto the right-field track.

That was immediately followed by a J.D. sacrifice fly where it looked like Mike Yastrzemski simply forgot the amount of outs. The Dodgers had a 3-2 lead.

On the other side Miller continued in the 7th, notching two strikeouts but also surrendering a single and double to put the Dodgers in trouble.

That led to Ryan Brasier being summoned, and he issued a walk to start that loaded the bases. Fortunately, he bounced back by getting an infield pop to end the threat.

In the bottom half of the inning, the Dodgers got a rally behind a one-out error and then a deflected double, and then a pair of Luke Jackson wild pitches scored both runs to make it 5-2.

It was then Joe Kelly in the 8th, who won a nine-pitch battle for a strikeout and then got a pair of groundouts on just six pitches to end his frame.

The bats didn’t let my recap have any rest, as in the bottom of the frame they started with a Freddie Freeman single, a stolen base, and a Martinez single for a run.

Back-to-back two-out singles from Miguel Rojas and Taylor followed to push another run across and make it 7-2.

To get some work in after some recent struggles, Evan Phillips entered in the 9th, and all he did was notch a clean inning along with two strikeouts on 14 pitches.

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NLRECORD
Braves98-55
Dodgers94-58 (3.5 GB)
Brewers87-66 (11 GB)

*Either still playing or will play later.

Same team, same time tomorrow at 4:10 PM HT/7:10 PM PT/10:10 PM ET, unfortunately on Apple TV+. It’ll be some kind of pen game, perhaps involving Gavin Stone and/or Ryan Yarbrough against Sean Manaea.

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