Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
After choking away the game yesterday, the depleted Dodgers bested Astros 6-2 on Sunday afternoon in Houston.
River Ryan made his second career start, and it was a good one: 5 2/3 IP, 2 H, 1 R/ER, 3 BB, 8 K. He threw 91 pitches and probably should have stayed in the game to try to get the last out of the 6th. Instead, Dave Roberts opted for Alex Vesia and, well…
Oops. Also, this isn’t concerning at all.
With the amount of burden the bullpen has had to shoulder in recent weeks, Andrew Friedman and friends have a lot of work to do before the Tuesday, 3 p.m. trade deadline.
Ryan was solid, but was also helped out a bit by the offense, despite the bats getting no-hit through 4 1/3 innings. James Outman got the scoring started with a solo homer. Gavin Lux followed up an inning later with a 2-run homer to give the Dodgers a 3-0 lead.
The Diaz homer in the sixth made it 3-2, but that’s as close as Houston would get. Teoscar Hernandez would add his 22nd homer of the season, while Cavan Biggio and Jason Heyward added RBIs in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively.
Joe Kelly pitched a somewhat eventful eighth inning that saw Jose Altuve double, Kelly throw an offspeed pitch behind Yordan Alvarez (no intent) and a record a strikeout.
The Astro faithful were so happy to see Kelly.
Thankfully, Kelly had the last laugh.
Then, as we all expected back in March, Roberts turned to Brent Honeywell Jr., who promptly retired the Astros in order to secure the LA win.
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The Dodgers move to 62-44 with the win, while the Astros fall to 55-50. Monday is a much-needed off day for the Dodgers before beginning a 2-game series with the Padres. Tyler Glasnow (8-6, 3.47 ERA) is expected to take on Matt Waldron (6-9, 3.64) and his knuckleball. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. Pacific time. By first pitch, there should be some brand new Dodgers.
