Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
After a day off, the Dodgers came out flat in a 3-1 loss to the Guardians, with the only highlight being Shohei Ohtani continuing to make history. Worse yet, Teoscar Hernandez got injured and had to leave, just adding to the problems.
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In what might be a playoff audition for Landon Knack, he delivered for the most part. Through five innings, he allowed just a single and a walk, and he struck out a career-high eight batters.
Then the 6th came around, where he gave up a lead-off single and an Andres Gimenez homer, which made it 2-0 to the Guardians in a flash.
Despite that, he was excellent against playoff-quality competition: 6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 8 K, 91 Pitches.
Of course, he exited trailing for a reason.
Against Matthew Boyd, the Dodgers got off to a decent start as Ohtani barely missed a homer and Mookie Betts sliced a double to right. However, things turned sour later in the 1st when Teoscar got hit on the foot and had to leave the game.
Teoscar Hernández left the game in the 1st after taking this pitch to the ankle. pic.twitter.com/VxUVEECMKW
— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) September 7, 2024
From that point on, Boyd retired 14 in a row that went into the 6th, where it came to an abrupt end when Ohtani smashed his 45th dinger of the year to create the 45-45 club and cut the lead to 2-1.
A 45/45 season and counting for Shohei Ohtani! pic.twitter.com/1oWOdIphFT
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 7, 2024
That led to a war of the pens, starting with Daniel Hudson in the 7th, who was greeted with a double. That was erased by a Will Smith throw, and he ended up facing the minimum. Anthony Banda entered in the 8th and gave up a solo shot to Brayan Rocchio to push the lead back to 3-1.
Ryan Brasier got the final inning for the Dodgers, cruising through the frame without trouble.
Didn’t matter.
On the other end, the Dodgers got only a single in the 7th, but a single, double, and intentional walk from the Big 3 loaded the bases in the 8th (should’ve been a run but Dino Ebel got way too conservative), where Chris Taylor promptly hit a ball hard but right into a GIDP to basically end the game. Everybody knew what was coming next and the game ended as expected.
It’s about playoff time, baby.
Definitely feels like a Dodger playoff game, lol.
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) September 7, 2024
Getting beat by Andres Gimenez and Brayan Rocchio. It's about that time.
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) September 7, 2024
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Sigh.
#Dodgers Roberts said the concern level on Hernandez’s injury is “high”. Teoscar was in a walking boot as he left the stadium.
— Juan Toribio (@juanctoribio) September 7, 2024
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| NL WEST | RECORD |
|---|---|
| Dodgers | 84-57 |
| Padres | 81-62 (4 GB) |
| Diamondbacks | 79-63 (5.5 GB) |
*Still playing.
It’s a weekend game tomorrow so the same two teams will do it an hour earlier at 3:10 PM HT/6:10 PM PT/9:10 PM ET. Presumably it’ll be Justin Wrobleski taking the ball with Gavin Stone down, and he’ll be facing Alex Cobb.
