Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Mat Latos pitched pretty well through four innings, but the Dodger bullpen and a 7th-inning rally gave the Dodgers a 5-2 win on Saturday night.
Latos gave up one run in the second on a sacrifice fly by Addison Russell. Carl Crawford caught the ball in foul territory, so an argument could be made that he should have dropped the ball with Jon Lester on deck. But, it was the second inning and the offense had more than enough time to make-up the 1-run deficit. Latos was also called for a balk in the fifth inning that pretty clearly wasn’t a balk. But if there’s one call in baseball that cannot be argued, it’s a balk. Latos finished with this line: 4 2/3 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 86 pitches, 51 strikes, 4/2 GO/AO. Not terrible for a long layoff. He was missing bats, which is a positive sign.
He was lifted for Luis Avilan, who retired the next hitter on one pitch. Despite some 8th-inning shenanigans from Jim Johnson, the bullpen was really good: 4 1/3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K. Not bad.
Rookie Jose Peraza tied the game in the seventh with an RBI double. Andre Ethier followed with a 2-run single and Adrian Gonzalez chipped in a run-scoring single of his own.
The Dodgers improve to 72-56 on the season. They’re on a 5-game winning streak and are 3 1/2 games up on the Giants. Alex Wood (9-8, 3.70 ERA) goes up against the Cubs’ best pitcher in Jake Arrieta (16-6, 2.22). First pitch is scheduled for 5:08 p.m. Pacific time. It’s an ESPN Sunday Night game. Yay?
