Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
While yesterday’s walk-off win was thrilling, it still did only manage to prevent a sweep against the Cardinals, and what the Dodgers really needed was to use it as a springboard into their series against the Nationals.
Well it certainly helps when you have Blake Snell to shove six shutout, which gave the offense plenty of time to compile a comfortable lead behind Teoscar Hernandez and Kyle Tucker (as expected), leading to a 5-3 victory after the pen made it a bit exciting late.
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Making just the fifth start of his career was Jackson Kent, who doesn’t even have a headshot on ESPN yet. The veteran Dodgers lineup took advantage of a rookie’s wildness for once.
After getting just a two-out walk in the 1st and going down in order in the 2nd, the 3rd began with back-to-back walks to Kyle Tucker and Enrique Hernandez. With one down, Mookie Betts singled to plate Tucker and Teoscar Hernandez doubled to plate both Enrique and Mookie. 3-0 Dodgers just like that.
Mookie takes advantage of a pair of walks to start the 3rd with an RBI single for an early lead. pic.twitter.com/glBbsbzazS
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) September 5, 2026
Teoscar follows by staying hot with a double to plate two more! https://t.co/82V8EmASZk pic.twitter.com/CWpb1UKKRR
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) September 5, 2026
After a two-out walk to put two on again, a lineout prevented further damage in the 3rd.
They started again in the 4th when Alex Call doubled to start, but he was only at third after two outs. Thankfully, on a Tommy Edman routine grounder, Nasim Nunez just dropped the ball for another run. 4-0 Dodgers. A single followed to corner things, but the rally ended there.
On the verge of stranding a leadoff double, Nunez gives the Dodgers and Edman a gift for another run. pic.twitter.com/ic0lvbOy4Z
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) September 5, 2026
After Kent rebounded with a clean 5th, his day was over.
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Blake Snell has been stellar since returning, though he still hasn’t found the efficiency he has been looking for.
Regardless, he started with a 1-2-3 frame in the 1st that included a pair of strikeouts, and worked around a one-out single and two-out steal with another pair of strikeouts in the 2nd.
Snell faced the minimum in the 3rd despite a lead-off walk, as with one out a steal of second was successful but a steal of third was not after an overslide of the bag. Another lead-off batter reached in the 4th, this one via single, but Snell faced the minimum again thanks to a double play.
He faced more traffic in the 5th after a one-out double and two-out walk, but Enrique Hernandez proved he would’ve made that over-the-shoulder catch in Game 7 by snagging a blooper behind first base.
Guess Enrique would've caught it after all. pic.twitter.com/9Agp0f6dMe
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) September 5, 2026
The 6th was the actual big inning for Snell, and he used a bit of fortune to navigate it.
A lead-off double from James Wood was followed by a single from Andres Chaparro that looked sure to score Wood, but he seemed to stumble approaching third and then missed the bag while falling over.
That meant he had to stay at third, and Snell made them pay by getting a pop-out, strikeout, and groundout to escape.
Snell prevents that runner from scoring after inducing a pop-up, getting a strikeout, and breaking a bat for a groundout. https://t.co/pvvzJNMDgS pic.twitter.com/89LfkYkGyS
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) September 5, 2026
I’m sure he still wants to get into the 7th at some point, but he looked mostly in cruise control: 6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K, 100 Pitches.
Blake Snell strikes out seven over six shutout NON-LABORED innings, though I imagine he still would like to get deeper into games. pic.twitter.com/cbh7M6WAg4
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) September 5, 2026
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For the Nationals pen, Luis Perales took over in the 6th, and he gave up Kyle Tucker’s 12th homer of the season to make it 5-0 Dodgers.
Perales then rebounded for a clean 7th, and Jack Sinclair made his MLB debut in a clean 8th.
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Taking over for Snell, the Dodgers pen were tasked with nine outs, and they started with a dominant Edgardo Henriquez in the 7th. He cruised through a 1-2-3 frame on just 10 pitches while striking out two, the latter on a pitch clock violation. The former? It included a 103.8 MPH fastball and an absolute hammer of a slider.
Edgardo Henriquez 103.8 MPH fastball and then drops the hammer for a strikeout. ? pic.twitter.com/rUInO5QZZq
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) September 5, 2026
They did run into trouble in the 8th, as Kyle Hurt got two easy outs but then Max Muncy made an error on a ground-ball and then a ground-rule double followed to put a pair in scoring position. They caught a break with that bounce and took advantage when Tanner Scott entered and got a flyout to the track for the final out.
To complete the win, Seth Halvorsen entered for the 9th, started by giving up a lead-off double and then a single from Abimelec Ortiz to breakup the shutout and make it 5-1 Dodgers.
Another single followed to corner the runners, still with nobody out, and Dave Roberts saw enough.
Jack Dreyer entered for what was now a save situation, and got a strikeout, a groundout from Jorbit Vivas that scored a run, and then gave up a double to James Wood to score another run and it was 5-3 Dodgers. All three runs were charged to Halvorsen.
With the tying run now at the plate, Dreyer got a flyout to lockdown the win. Geez.
Little more dramatic than necessary, but that’s a solid win.
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| NL Seeding | Record | GB |
| Brewers | 88-54 | – |
| Braves | 84-57 | 3.5 |
| Dodgers | 84-57 | 3.5 |
The series continues tomorrow an hour earlier at 3:10 PM HT/6:10 PM PT/9:10 PM ET with probably the marquee pitching matchup of the series in Tyler Glasnow facing Cade Cavalli.
