Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
After a couple of close games against the Mariners due to their outstanding rotation, the Dodgers ground Logan Gilbert into the ground to take a lead against him and then exploded with two outs in the 5th to put the game in their back pocket.
The 8-4 victory made it a clean sweep and was their fourth win in a row.
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Jack Flaherty has given up a bunch of runs in his last two starts despite looking pretty good, and started quickly with a pair of strikeouts in the 1st. However, a hit by pitch on Randy Arozarena (who bizarrely took exception to it), steal, single, and sac fly put the Dodgers down 1-0 in the 2nd.
— (◕ᴗ◕✿) ?⚾️ (@gatodejazz) August 22, 2024
He also faced trouble in the 3rd because after a lead-off single, Max Muncy and Teoscar Hernandez miscommunicated on who had a routine fly ball, which led to it dropping in for another single. However, Flaherty rebounded to get three straight outs, including Arozarena as the last one, after which they exchanged words.
Randy Arozarena was not happy when Jack Flaherty hit him in his first at-bat
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) August 22, 2024
In his next at-bat Arozarena flew out to end the inning and benches cleared briefly as he and Flaherty exchanged words pic.twitter.com/N7GHjKtSWZ
All kinda silly considering what started this, honestly.
Anyway, maybe that kickstarted the Dodgers offense a bit against Gilbert, who had set down eight in a row to start the game. More likely though, it was the Leo Rivas two-out error that did it, as Kevin Kiermaier reached, Shohei Ohtani drew a walk, and Mookie Betts made Gilbert pay by ripping a double down the line in left for a 2-1 lead in the 3rd.
Moooooook! pic.twitter.com/UV0VtFFlov
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 22, 2024
Mookie Betts takes Dino Ebel's job: pic.twitter.com/qsvbhAWTHo
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) August 22, 2024
The Dodgers then got an earned run in the 4th, as Teoscar led things off with a single, stole second, and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Will Smith came through with a liner to center that Luke Raley made a great play on to prevent extra bases, but went down as a sac fly to make it 3-1.
Meanwhile, the 5th started normal enough, as a Ohtani one-out single led to his 39th stolen base, and he got to third on a wild pitch. However, a groundout led to a second out, and at that point the Dodgers were just hoping for another run.
— (◕ᴗ◕✿) ?⚾️ (@gatodejazz) August 22, 2024
They got a lot more than that.
Freddie Freeman doubled in Ohtani for a run, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a Teoscar single off Rivas’ glove to make it 5-1.
Freddie Freeman doubles home Shohei Ohtani (who stole his 39th base) to extend the lead. pic.twitter.com/z3x6alQVK4
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) August 22, 2024
Teoscar Hernandez adds a single and adds another run. pic.twitter.com/KEByanhWnM
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) August 22, 2024
Gavin Lux singled to center to keep the rally alive, and Will walked to load the bases and knock Gilbert out of the game. On the first pitch Muncy saw from the pen, he ripped a double down the line in right to clear his plate and make it 8-1. That’s five consecutive hitters reaching with two outs.
Clear the bases, Max! pic.twitter.com/jTUDIypy4i
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 22, 2024
Oh right, back to Flaherty, who gave up just a single between the 4th and 5th. However, the 6th started with a single and a walk to put him in some trouble. A strikeout, pop out, and groundball seemed to get him out of it, but Lux’s error loaded the bases and knocked him out of the game.
A bunch of hard contact and some command issues led to a meh start for a guy like him: 5.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 5 K, 99 Pitches.
That second run is due to Anthony Banda entering and issuing a walk to force a run in at 8-2, but he then got four outs in a row to take the pen through the 7th.
Blake Treinen returned in the 8th with a low-stakes environment and immediately gave up back-to-back weakly-hit singles to corner things up. After a lineout, he got a groundball, but the double-play attempt was late and a run scored to make it 8-3 before he got out of the inning.
Since the Dodgers lineup then didn’t care or something, they stranded a lead-off triple in the 6th, a two-out double in the 7th, and a lead-off error in the 8th, so the lead was stagnant. But despite Alex Vesia giving up a solo homer to make it 8-4 in the 9th, he finished up the game without much else issue.
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Minutes before the game, it was announced that Treinen would be activated and Ben Casparius would be optioned.
The Dodgers activated RHP Blake Treinen and optioned RHP Ben Casparius.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 22, 2024
Pen is now almost a full strength.
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An unserious team.
https://t.co/ak6ZiTGguO pic.twitter.com/KMZEqBbVOi
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) August 22, 2024
Shohei Ohtani, evil look at Ebel
— Ⓕⓡⓐⓝⓒⓔⓢⓒⓐ★ (@DecoOhtani117) August 22, 2024
大谷くん、イベルコーチに悪い顔??pic.twitter.com/O5czFsOMFa
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| NL WEST | RECORD |
|---|---|
| Dodgers | 76-52 |
| Diamondbacks | 72-56 (4 GB) |
| Padres | 72-56 (4 GB) |
*Currently playing.
After a day off, the Dodgers will welcome the Rays to Dodger Stadium at 4:10 PM HT/7:10 PM PT/10:10 PM ET on MLB Network. It’ll be Bobby Miller looking to do … literally anything but have a disaster start, against somebody for the Rays.
