Dodgers 6, Marlins 3: Walker Buehler’s return results in 5th consecutive win as Dodgers smack 4 homers early

Chad Moriyama 05/06/2024 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

Starting off a series against the struggling Marlins that should in theory be a cakewalk compared to the Braves, typical baseball unpredictability looked to be happening early as the teams exchanged runs. However, it was the Dodgers who got the most of the firepower exchange, and their arms settled into the game in a 6-3 victory to start the series.

That’s five a in a row and 12 of their last 14, ridiculous.

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An early offensive outburst probably wasn’t what Walker Buehler wanted, but it is what happened. After an infield single against the shift and a steal started his outing, a Bryan De La Cruz single scored a run before he was able to retire a batter. After a groundout only advanced the runner a base and a lineout followed, it seemed like he might get out of it with minimal damage, but a Jesus Sanchez single plated another run to make it 2-0 to the Marlins before he was able to close the frame.

Fortunately, Roddery Munoz was thrown to the wolves a bit by the Marlins, and his outing started with a four-pitch walk to Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani rifling a two-run homer to center (11th), and Freddie Freeman going back-to-back with his third of the year for a 3-2 lead.

In the 2nd, though, Buehler took all of one batter to give that back. A hung cutter to Nick Gordon was deposited barely out of reach of Andy Pages in right to tie things up at 3-3. After he dropped a routine feed from Freddie while covering first, things seemed like they might unravel. However, Will Smith threw out a steal attempt, which made a two-out double later on result in no runs, and he was out of the inning.

The Dodgers came right back to take the lead again in the bottom half behind a Gavin Lux walk and James Outman hitting his first homer in almost a month, his third of the year to make it 5-3.

Instead of exchanging runs, the Dodgers just tacked on in the 3rd, homering yet again. This time it was Teoscar Hernandez with his ninth, pushing the lead to 6-3.

After the early drama (and high pitch count), Buehler seemed to settle in a bit and was better for it. He gave up just a two-out single in the 3rd after a couple strikeouts, then faced the minimum in the 4th by getting a double play to erase a frustrating hit batter that came on an 0-2 count.

The fastball was better than I expected, averaging 95.9 MPH and topping out at 97.6, but he really struggled with breaking ball command for most of the outing. Still, he closed strong and the pitch count is really what stopped a run of effectiveness: 4 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 77 Pitches.

Taking over for him was Ryan Yarbrough, who hilariously remains extremely effective despite throwing pus out there. It’s really great. He was especially good today, giving up just a single in three innings and taking just 26 pitches to do it.

Despite the game feeling like the Dodgers were ahead by a lot, it was still only three runs, and a lot of that was because the offense stalled out. They stranded a pair of singles in the 4th, a walk in the 5th, and a single and walk in the 6th. They then sent up the minimum in the 7th and went down in order in the 8th. At least Pages got his first walk!

To close things out for the pen, interestingly it was Blake Treinen on a back-to-back so soon after coming off the IL. If it was a test, then he passed it, carving the Marlins on just 10 pitches.

Alex Vesia was next up, and he finished the game in fashion for the save, getting a 1-2-3 frame on just 13 pitches.

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Lux toothpick.

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24-13, looking amazing.

Same two teams, same location, and same time tomorrow at 4:10 PM HT/7:10 PM PT/10:10 PM ET with Yoshinobu Yamamoto looking to continue his run of success against Edward Cabrera.

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