Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Sorry about the headline. NotSorry about the Dodgers’ performance today, as they salvaged a split with the Cubs by getting two runs in the first inning and two in the second. That would be all Carlos Frias and the bullpen would need.
Frias, somehow, threw five shutout innings, seeing as he gave up seven hits and walked three in those innings. He did strike out five Cubbies in the process. He also contributed by scoring from first base on Enrique Hernandez‘s 3rd-inning triple. Frias can run a bit.
The offense got started in the first inning. A struggling Jimmy Rollins laid down a nice bunt single that was followed by consecutive walks to Justin Turner and Scott Van Slyke. Howie Kendrick, who has been pretty not great in the last couple weeks, slapped a liner down the right-field line to plate two.
Speaking of Turner, he almost hit his 11th home run of the season in the seventh inning, but it was ruled (correctly) as a triple. That bumped his slugging percentage up to .582. For context, Giancarlo Stanton led the National League in slugging last year at .555 (he’s a .618 this year).
Joc Pederson got in the game after not starting against Jon Lester (who was not good) and drew a walk (not against Lester), because that’s what he does. But he, Andre Ethier, Adrian Gonzalez and Yasmani Grandal didn’t start and the Dodgers won. That’ll happen when you don’t allow any runs (#analysis). But the bullpen pitched four scoreless innings in relief of Frias.
About the bullpen: Joel Peralta and Kenley Jansen were both used for the third straight day. That means one or both are likely unavailable for Friday’s game in Miami. The bullpen is a little short right now because the Dodgers are carrying 14 position players, but I don’t understand using Jansen in the ninth inning. There wasn’t much of a threat from the Cubs and a guy like Ian Thomas could have seen action, seeing as he was brought up specifically to back up Frias. Maybe Yimi Garcia could have started a second inning, but the trust level in him isn’t the highest right now, which is understandable (and he would have been unavailable for tomorrow). It’s hard to be too upset about it, but Don Mattingly‘s bullpen management is questionable at times.
The Dodgers move to 41-33 with the win. Brett Anderson (3-4, 3.29 ERA) toes the rubber against Justin Nicolino (1-0, 0.00). First pitch from Marlins Park is scheduled for 4:10 p.m. Pacific time.
