Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers (4-2) secured their first series win of the 2024 season over the Cardinals (1-3) after a late-inning rally and comeback win on Easter Sunday.
Gavin Stone opened his first start of the season against the Cardinals with an exclamation point. Although the offense ultimately failed to provide Stone any run support, the potential from the 25-year old right-hander was evident in his 2024 season debut for the Dodgers.
Stone brings a cutter, sinking fastball, four-seam fastball, slider and his devastating changeup into the season. He set a career high with six strikeouts and induced a plethora of swings and misses against his impressive arsenal of pitches against the Cardinals. Stone struck out the side in the first to open the game.
Chris Taylor collected his first base hit of the season against Steven Matz to open the bottom of the second. Speaking of no hits, Enrique Hernández hadn’t managed a hit yet and also grounded into a double play to erase Taylor’s single.
The Cardinals got things going against Stone in the top of the third with back-to-back singles to open the frame. Paul Goldschmidt continues to torment the Dodgers in 2024 after years of success against them when he was still with the Arizona D-backs. Goldschmidt was the Cardinals’ entire offense in the first game of the series with three hits including a home run. Goldy’s RBI single against Stone gave the initial lead to the Cards.
It was also an interesting inning on the ESPN broadcast with Kiké Hernandez mic’d up at third base, we were able to hear the PitchCom and every changeup that was coming.
Shohei Ohtani seems to be really pressing, and he struck out twice against Matz. Albeit, the called third strike on his first punch out was outside the zone.
Kiké Hernandez also picked up his first hit of the year, a two-out single in the bottom of the fourth. The Dodgers continued to struggle with men in scoring position, and James Outman stranded another two runners to waste yet another scoring opportunity.
St. Louis doubled their score on a Brendon Donovan RBI single off Stone’s four-seamer in the top of the fifth. Alex Vesia replaced Stone after he walked Wilson Contreras, the St. Louis leadoff hitter, in the top of the sixth. Stone allowed two runs on seven hits with six strikeouts and a walk on 85 pitches (55 strikes).
Vesia made me start to question the Dodgers’ middle relief after he issued consecutive walks to Jordan Walker and Victor Scott II to load the bases for the Red Birds. Vesia came back and struck out Masyn Winn, but things didn’t get much better from there.
If things couldn’t spiral any further in the frame for Vesia, he hit Donovan with a pitch to bring in the third run of the game for the Cards. Then Barnes’ glove hit Goldschmidt’s bat at the plate for catcher’s interference. That rare call brought in the second run of the inning.
Ohtani’s bat finally woke up in the bottom of the sixth with a leadoff ground-rule double with an exit velocity of 115.8 mph. Hitting is contagious, or so they say. Teoscar Hernandez broke up the shutout with an RBI double to left field which also chased Matz from the game.
Andrew Kittredge walked Taylor, and Max Muncy‘s single loaded the bases for the Dodgers with one out. Outman’s little dribbler in front of the mound allowed Teoscar Hernandez to score.
The Dodgers announced the selection of Nabil Crismatt‘s contract prior to the game. His first relief appearance was another bright spot on the night.
Crismatt pitched two scoreless innings with three strikeouts out of the bullpen for the Dodgers.
Teoscar Hernandez made it more interesting with a solo home run in the bottom of the eight to make it a one-run game.
The Dodgers kept chipping away at the Cardinals’ pen which has been extremely shaky so far this season. Muncy came up clutch with a game-winning two-run home run off a left-hander at that. The Dodgers took the 5-4 lead to stun the Cardinals with a Dodgers’ patented comeback win.
The Boys in Blue are now 4-2 overall on the young season.
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Update on Walker Buehler:
Stone’s spot eventually will be filled by Walker Buehler who hasn’t pitched since 2022 after a second Tommy John surgery.
Buehler completed his first rehab start with Triple-A Oklahoma City today and threw 54 pitches (31 strikes) against Triple-A Tacoma. He allowed four runs (three earned) on three hits over 3 1/3 innings of work. Buehler retired the first six batters he faced, but also struggled a bit with his command over his last two innings.
Walker’s back to cussing, so he must be close to returning.
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The San Francisco Giants (2-2) come into town for a three-game series at Dodger Stadium starting Monday night at 7:10 PM PST. James Paxton makes his Dodger debut in the series opener. The 35-year old left-hander was signed to a one-year, $7-million contract with the Dodgers in late January in order to fill out the backend of the rotation. Right-hander Keaton Winn makes his season debut for the Giants.
