Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Rarely does a mismatch on paper end up playing out around that way during the actual matchup in baseball, but this series between the Dodgers and Marlins did. Today, the Boys In Blue completed a dominant sweep, though today they sorta played with their food a bit in a 3-1 victory.
That’s seven wins in a row and a whopping 14 of their last 16.
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Rather than fireworks in the 1st, today the Dodgers scratched a run across the board to start against Ryan Weathers. With two outs, Freddie Freeman floated a seemingly harmless single to center. However, he then advanced to second on a balk called due to Weathers paying close attention to the speed demon, got to third on a wild pitch that the catcher lost between his legs, and promptly scored on a Teoscar Hernandez single poked to right for an early 1-0 lead.
¡Teoscar se trae la primera carrera al plato! pic.twitter.com/sPcWwd6N67
— Los Dodgers (@LosDodgers) May 8, 2024
Weathers settled in impressively, however, not allowing another baserunner through the end of the 3rd.
And it would be another quick game as Gavin Stone was operating much the same on the other end. He retired the first eight batters he faced before a single (error, really) broke up the perfecto, but that was no obstacle through getting three scoreless.
The 4th was when lightning struck as Bryan De La Cruz smashed another homer against the Dodgers to tie the game up at 1-1.
El Ronco strikes again. pic.twitter.com/bYYl312E4p
— Miami Marlins (@Marlins) May 8, 2024
Worse yet, an infield single and a bloop single made it seem like the Marlins were about to rally. However, Stone focused up and induced a double play, then got a strikeout to end the threat without any further damage.
While the pen was rested and ready to help him at any time, Stone didn’t need it. He cruised through a clean 5th, gave up just a single in the 6th, and surrendered just another single that was sort of an error hybrid in the 7th.
The combination of the Marlins’ aggressiveness and Stone having command of his offerings just didn’t make for a good day for them: 7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 89 Pitches.
Of course, for a while there, Stone was doing this during a tied game. The offense managed just a walk in the 4th and saw a single erased by a double play in the 5th. However, he eventually left with the lead, as the Dodgers rallied again with two outs. Freddie Freeman started things in the 6th with a double, and while Weather seemingly was making the smart choice in pitching around Teoscar Hernandez with the base open, he got aggressive in the zone and paid the price with a two-run homer to left-center field, his 10th of the year to make it 3-1.
Weathers started by pitching around Teoscar, got to a 3-2 count and was more aggressive, and Teoscar reminded him why he was supposed to pitch around him. pic.twitter.com/PNcvFJhHL7
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) May 8, 2024
The bats didn’t provide anything else the rest of the game, as they went down in order in the 7th and a caught stealing erased a single in the 8th, but it didn’t matter.
Surprisingly, with all the pen arms fresh it was Michael Grove in the 8th, and to be fair he is hot of late. Indeed, he continued his roll, getting the side on just 12 pitches, including a strikeout.
Daniel Hudson then entered to close in the 9th, and he had a nice bounce back outing after struggling of late. He took just 12 pitches to get a clean inning that included a strikeout, locking down the save and the win.
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26-13, a 108-win pace. Well, that was sudden, huh?
The Dodgers will have tomorrow off for a travel day, but they won’t have to go far as they’ll be heading down to San Diego for a series. That’ll start at 3:40 PM HT/6:40 PM PT/9:40 PM ET with Tyler Glasnow looking to continue building his awards season resume against Michael King.
