Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers won 3-2 on Sunday afternoon in yet another extra-inning contest, thanks to a Shohei Ohtani pinch-hit walk-off RBI single. I was informed that he wasn’t clutch. Strange.
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Andy Pages, mired in a bit of a slump of late (.162/.220.189 in his last 11 games), gave the Dodgers a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning on his fifth home run of the season.
Landon Knack was called upon to start the Sunday matinee, and he performed well — 4 2/3 IP, 3 H, 1 R/ER, 1 BB, 5 K. The lone run he allowed was on an RBI double by Santiago Espinal in the fifth inning. It was his first MLB appearance since throwing five innings of 1-run ball on April 30 in Arizona. Don’t look now, but he has a 2.61 ERA in 20 2/3 MLB innings. Sure, the FIP leaves a lot to be desired (4.64), but he could be a quality long man/spot-starter, should the Dodgers need him.
In the seventh inning, Ryan Yarbrough was starting his second inning of work when a bunt single by Stuart Fairchild with a runner on first base ended up with second and third with no outs. Yarbrough fielded the bunt, but Gavin Lux was very late trying to cover first base, and Yarbrough threw the ball down the right-field line.
After a groundout and intentional walk, Yarbrough was lifted for Alex Vesia, who promptly walked Spencer Steer to give the Reds their second run of the afternoon, tying things up at 2-2.
Blake Treinen got the ninth inning. After two quick outs, a bloop single by Tyler Stephenson and a single by a fella called Jacob Hurtubise brought Elly De La Cruz to the dish. Treinen got him swinging on the fourth pitch of the at bat, which looked like this:
All sliders inside and out of the zone by Blake Treinen to strike out Elly De La Cruz in a high-leverage situation. pic.twitter.com/xDI7gt945f
— Positive Residual (@presidual) May 19, 2024
Sick.
The game went to extra innings after the Dodgers were retired in the bottom half. Recently acquired Anthony Banda got the frame in the 10th. With De La Cruz the ghost runner on second, Banda struck out Mike Ford, got Jeimer Candelario to ground out to third on a nice play by Enrique Hernandez and got Jake Fraley to bounce out harmlessly to Freddie Freeman to end the inning.
In the bottom half, Jason Heyward — who struck out looking on a pitch clearly outside the strike zone in the ninth — was the ghost runner. With two outs and runners on first and second base, Ohtani did his thing.
Nine-plus more years of this?! Yes plz.
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Los Angeles improves to 32-17 on the season, while Cincinnati falls to 19-28. The Dodgers open a series at home against the Diamondbacks tomorrow night. Yoshinobu Yamamoto will oppose Slade Cecconi. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. Pacific time from Chavez Ravine.
