Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
After completing a short California road trip at 3-3, the Dodgers returned home to start a seven-game homestand and a four-game set against the Reds. Things didn’t start well, as the Reds ran wild and got timely hits, while Dave Roberts ran out a reserve lineup that got dominated in a 7-2 loss.
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The lineup today was one of the weaker ones, and they performed mostly as expected. I assume this was chosen because Tyler Glasnow was on the mound, so they were hoping he’d throw a shutout. However, those dreams came to an end on the first batter, when Will Benson smoked a fastball to right for a homer and an early lead.
After an Elly De La Cruz single, he stole second with one out, and then scored on a Robert Stephenson two-out double to push the Reds’ lead to 2-0.
Glasnow would rebound, working around a two-out single and stolen base in the 2nd. However, the same formula would burn him in the 3rd, as a De La Cruz lead-off double and steal of third was cashed in with two outs on a Stephenson single.
After setting the side down in order in the 4th, a similar formula repeated in the 5th. A one-out walk to De La Cruz led to steals of second and third against the hapless Austin Barnes, and then on a strikeout with two outs to end the inning, Barnes ole’d a ball in the dirt to allow a run to score and make it 4-0 to the Reds.
Allowing Elly De La Cruz to reach base with Austin Barnes catching is basically a free runner at third.
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) May 17, 2024
Four stolen bases tonight. 30 on the season.
— MLB (@MLB) May 17, 2024
Elly De La Cruz is on a historic pace. ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/kePlqSihyd
Besides the homer, the Reds’ athleticism and some unfortunate sequencing led to a mediocre line, but Glasnow also didn’t look sharp in terms of command: 5 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 8 K, 92 Pitches.
More curious was what followed, which was Alex Vesia getting five outs while down four in May. This coming during his best run as a reliever in a long time. Not available tomorrow then, I guess.
Anyway, Nick Ramirez relieved him in the 7th and got the final out there, then got a 1-2-3 frame in the 8th as well. However, probably tiring in the 9th, he gave up three runs on two doubles, a single, two walks, and an error to make it 7-0 Reds.
For eight innings, the Dodgers managed just two singles and two walks to go along with eight strikeouts for zero runs. In the 9th, they suddenly got their rally on behind two singles and two walks, including a Gavin Lux single to make it 7-2. However, their third strikeout of the inning ended the game, making it 11 on the night.
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At least Shohei Ohtani did this.
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29-17, bleh.
Same time, same teams, same location tomorrow at 4:10 PM HT/7:10 PM PT/10:10 PM ET with James Paxton facing Frankie Montas.
