Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Tyler Glasnow started the winning streak for the Dodgers (18-11), and the dominant ace doubled down with another impressive performance Saturday in Toronto for the series win. With the 4-2 win over the Blue Jays (13-15), the Dodgers’ current six-game winning streak is their longest since last August.
Glasnow is the first MLB pitcher to collect five wins on the season after a masterful one-hit performance against the last-place Blue Jays. The Dodgers are finally firing on more cylinders the last two series against the Nationals and now the Jays after the disastrous homestand.
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Mookie Betts, leadoff hitter extraordinaire, lined a 3-1 pitch to center field to start the game, and the speedy Betts made it to third with a standup triple after center fielder Daulton Varsho made a poor choice to attempt to dive for the ball. He wasn’t even close to making the play, and the ball and the AstroTurf went flying in his face.
The Dodgers cashed in Mooke’s triple on a Freddie Freeman sac fly to give them the early 1-0 lead in the first inning.
The Dodgers the put up a two-spot in the second. The relentless L.A. offense opened the second with consecutive singles by Enrique Hernandez and Andy Pages, both on two-strike counts. Hernandez barely was able to tag up on a Miguel Rojas fly ball to Addison Barger in right field, as Barger nearly threw Hernandez out at third with an impressive throw.
Chris Taylor finally got in on the action, and his RBI single brought Hernandez home for the 2-0 lead. It’s good to see CT3 with some results at the plate. It’s been a really rough slump to start the season for the utility player.
Shohei Ohtani shot a 119.2-mph liner to right field, the hardest hit ball of his career, for an RBI single. He’s unbelievable, and it seems like everything is so casual and easy for him.
119.2 MPH 🤯
— MLB (@MLB) April 27, 2024
Shohei Ohtani extends the @Dodgers lead with the hardest-hit ball of the season so far. pic.twitter.com/snevq4Hfs7
As soon as Ohtani made contact on a 2-2 four-seam fastball, you could hear the “wows” echo through the crowd at Rogers Centre.
Once the exit-velocity numbers were revealed, the awestruck crowds both in Toronto and those watching from home were validated. Ohtani’s single was the hardest-hit ball in Ohtani’s career and the hardest by any player in MLB this season. It’s also the hardest-hit ball by a Dodger since at least 2015, but it’s likely the hardest-hit ball by a Dodger ever.
On the other side of things, Glasnow didn’t allow a base hit until a two-out double in the bottom of the third. It was just a blip on the radar, because Glasnow was virtually unhittable, and even hit 99-mph.
The Dodgers continued to add to the cushion, as Betts didn’t waste the productive sac bunt by Taylor and drove in the fourth run of the game with a single off Kikuchi in the fourth. Mookie is playing on another level right now, and he ended up with another three-hit game with a stolen base (8) in his 500th (!) game with the Dodgers.
The Blue Jays finally broke up the shutout against Glasnow in the bottom of the seventh after a leadoff walk to Danny Jansen and a Davis Schneider RBI base hit. Glasnow came out of the game with a trainer at that point after 95 pitches.
Joe Kelly came in with an inherited runner at second and nobody out. Kelly was raring to pitch after a week, and he came in throwing fire and painting corners at 100-mph. He struck out two and stranded the runner to keep it a three-run game.
Glasnow allowed one run on two hits with nine strikeouts and three walks in six innings.
Ryan Brasier came out of the Dodgers’ pen hot as well. He struck out Bo Bichette and Guerrero Jr. in a scoreless eighth.
The Dodgers stranded two runners in the top of the ninth before they handed the ball to Evan Phillips for the home half of the frame. Phillips struck out old friend Justin Turner, and he also made Jansen look silly on strike three. But things started to unravel a bit for the Dodgers’ closer with two outs. Phillips flubbed up the final out, a Davis Schneider groundball, and threw it past Freeman at first base. Then Cavan Biggio singled to make it a 4-2 ballgame. Thankfully Phillips retired the potential tying run at the plate to nab his eighth save of the season.
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The Dodgers wrap up their Canada trip and go for their second straight series sweep with an early 10:37 AM PST start time Sunday at Rogers Centre. Kevin Gausman (0-3, 5.57 ERA, 1.57 WHIP) starts for the Blue Jays, and the Dodgers will piece a bullpen game together.
