Dodgers 5, Giants 4: Behind Mookie Betts, the O jumps out to an early lead & the pen hangs on

Chad Moriyama 04/02/2024 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

After taking the last series they played, the Dodgers have now secured two in a row following their second win in a row against the rival Giants and three in a row overall following a 5-4 victory tonight.

A pen game against Logan Webb seemed like a daunting task, and it got even worse when Phil Cuzzi decided to have a gigantic strike zone, but the Dodgers battled and still knocked him around. But it wasn’t an easy win as the pen barely clung on.

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As mentioned, it was a pen game for the Dodgers, and starting things off was Ryan Brasier with a scoreless 1st that included just a two-out walk.

Meanwhile, despite Cuzzi’s best efforts, things started well for the Dodgers on offense, too. Mookie Betts led off with a single and then stole second, and Freddie Freeman cashed him in with a single for a 1-0 lead.

That didn’t last long as Ryan Yarbrough took over in the 2nd and gave up a double to start, issued a walk, and gave up a two-out Nick Ahmed single to knot the game at 1-1. The 3rd played out much the same for him, as a lead-off double was eventually cashed in by a single, this time from Michael Conforto to give the Giants a 2-1 lead all of a sudden.

Thankfully, their lead didn’t last long either, as after a quiet 2nd, Mookie came back up in the 3rd and smashed his fifth homer of the year to left to tie things back up.

It was remarkable that Webb wasn’t dominating because Cuzzi was doing his best to make things difficult for hitters.

Regardless the 4th was big for the offense, a Max Muncy lead-off double looked like it’d be stranded after two outs. But after Gavin Lux got buried in an 0-2 count due to two more shit calls, he doubled to score Muncy, and Enrique Hernandez immediately followed by singling past a drawn-in infield to drive in two more. That made it 5-2, and Webb didn’t make it out of the 4th.

The good news is that after a shaky start, Yarbrough settled in a bit, and seemed to be rolling thanks to a clean frame in both the 4th and 5th, partially due to Hernandez in left.

That … did not continue in the 6th. Jorge Soler used his comical strength to yoink a homer to left for a run, and two singles followed to corner the runners. Thairo Estrada followed by ripping a grounder to third, which Muncy stopped and got an out from, but a run scored to make it 5-4. Mercifully that was the end of his day, as Dave Roberts finally came to get Yarbrough, at least a couple batters late.

Another curious choice was made with the pen, as Alex Vesia then entered and gave up a fly to the warning track before he was able to escape with a strikeout. So that worked out results-wise at least.

In the 7th, it was a dominant Michael Grove who struck out two and finished the inning on just eight pitches.

Unfortunately he was left to continue yet again and then labored in the 8th, taking 24 pitches to get two outs while allowing a single and a walk. That forced Roberts’ hand, and Evan Phillips was summoned for four outs, and he got bailed out a bit by getting a first-pitch groundout to end the threat.

As all this was going on there were no updates for the offense because they couldn’t get any insurance. A quiet 5th was followed by wasting a single and a walk in both the 6th and 7th innings, before they also wasted a lead-off walk in the 8th.

Thus it was still a one-run lead for Phillips in the 9th, and after giving up a two-out single, he completed a scoreless frame to lock down the win with the go-ahead run at the plate.

Happy time.

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Noted.

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6-2 seems decent.

The series concludes tomorrow as the Dodgers go for a clean sweep at 4:10 PM HT/7:10 PM PT/10:10 PM ET. It’ll be Tyler Glasnow against Kyle Harrison.

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