Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
In the series rubber match against the Cardinals with the division-lead growing smaller, a getaway day lineup, and a team facing a drought of quality starts, it was none other than 55-year-old Clayton Kershaw to step up and bail the team out once again. Backed by minimal offense, Kershaw shut the Cardinals down and the Dodgers pen again clung on for dear life in a 2-1 victory.
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The bats weren’t necessarily effective against Sonny Gray, but they did threaten a bunch and make him work. It started in the 1st when a two-out Gavin Lux double was followed by what looked like a Teoscar Hernandez double before Victor Scott II robbed him in center.
After a lead-off single and two-out walk in the 2nd was wasted, the 3rd provided a major chance. With one down, Mookie Betts singled up the middle, Lux continued his hot hitting with another double, and Teoscar drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases. Unfortunately, Miguel Rojas then grounded into a momentum-killing double play.
Gray then got his first clean frame in the 4th and looked to be settling in, but after all that work in the 3rd, Shohei Ohtani started the scoring in the 5th the easy way, smashing his 39th dong of the year for a 1-0 lead.
Back-to-back days of homers from Shohei! pic.twitter.com/hrjZrBnzeQ
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 18, 2024
Behind Ohtani, the Dodgers continued to rally, as Betts drew a walk and Lux came up with his third hit of the day on a single to right to corner things up. After a Teoscar strikeout left things looking like they’d strand another chance, Miggy made up for his last at-bat with a single to left to make it 2-0.
The bats managed just a couple singles and a walk in the final four innings, so it was up to the pitching staff to bail them out … and they did.
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All of this was really to setup a Clayton Kershaw appreciation post, as he was dominant in his newer, older ways today. He faced the minimum through four frames, erasing a walk in the 1st with a double play and a single in the 2nd with a caught stealing, and then allowed just a single in the 5th.
Clayton Kershaw, Cooperstown Curveball. 👑 pic.twitter.com/nm3FfSgGSO
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 18, 2024
Things didn’t start great in the 6th, as back-to-back singles from the bottom of the order led to scoring chances for the top of their order. However, he settled right down, getting a fly out to center and inducing a double play to escape with barely a hint of trouble.
Two birds, one stone. pic.twitter.com/ylsTGyAyNg
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 18, 2024
What a start: 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 70 Pitches.
Clayton Kershaw to the Dodgers rotation (and Dodgers, in general): pic.twitter.com/YzP0qnaffH
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) August 18, 2024
For reasons I assume are related to him being old and fragile or something, he was removed from the game in the 7th for Evan Phillips. While he gave up a single and uncorked a wild pitch, nothing doing for the Cards still.
Daniel Hudson then looked to get back to his scoreless ways in the 8th, but those plans were ruined by a Lars Nootbaar solo shot that cut the lead to 2-1.
NOOOOOOOT!!#ForTheLou x #PlayersWeekend pic.twitter.com/flfLGkLTLm
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) August 18, 2024
New closer Michael Kopech had the 9th, getting a fly out to start, but then getting victimized by an Austin Barnes throwing error on a roller in front of the plate. Thankfully, a double play ended the game from there.
Hoping he gets a day off now cause the velo was down today.
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| NL WEST | RECORD |
|---|---|
| Dodgers | 73-52 |
| Padres | 70-54 (2.5 GB)* |
| Diamondbacks | 69-55 (3.5 GB)* |
*Currently playing.
The Dodgers will now return home for a three-game series against the Mariners that’ll start at the usual time of 4:10 PM HT/7:10 PM PT/10:10 PM ET. It’ll be Gavin Stone looking to build on his improvement in his last start, and he’ll be up against one of the rising young starters in Bryan Woo.
