Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Thankfully my prediction of the Dodgers getting swept didn’t end up coming true, and the Dodgers prevailed over the Red Sox, 3-0, this afternoon. Ross Stripling, who isn’t even stretched out to be a starter yet, shutout the best offense in baseball. This sport is totally predictable and rational, you guys.
As I mentioned, Stripling was the MVP of this game. Not even really ready to start yet, Stripling nevertheless twirled five shutout innings on 75 pitches for a team desperate for a quality start. He gave up four hits and a walk while striking out four, keeping the Red Sox off the scoreboard and lowering his season ERA to 3.79. At this point, I’m thinking he basically has to remain in the rotation.
Another pleasant surprise was Grant Dayton, who took over for Stripling in the sixth. Dayton walked a batter, but otherwise threw two shutout innings and struck out four batters, generally looking dominant.
https://twitter.com/ChadMoriyama/status/762052578083385344
Fortunately, that bought enough time for the offense to get something going.
In the second, A.J. Ellis singled to left with two down to score Adrian Gonzalez from second and stake the Dodgers to a 1-0 lead. In the fifth, Corey Seager hit a double down the right-field line to score Chris Taylor and put the Dodgers up 2-0.
Corey Seager now has the Dodger rookie record for doubles with his 31st, breaking the mark held by FS1 announcer Eric Karros.
— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) August 6, 2016
A-Gon then followed with a single of his own to score Howie Kendrick and put the Dodgers at the final score of 3-0. Also, Josh Reddick finally got his first hit as a member of the Dodgers, which went about as well as could be anticipated.
All in all, the Dodgers actually had 11 hits, but they were generally scattered, and they only got one extra-base hit (a double) and one walk.
Luckily, they didn’t need more than three runs as the bullpen shut it down. Joe Blanton got the scoreless eighth for his 18th hold, giving up only a single. That set things up for Kenley Jansen, who struck out the side (FINALLY) to get his 33rd save.
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With the win, the Dodgers improve to 61-49 overall and 34-21 at home. The NL West lead for the Giants is temporarily cut to 1.5 games, as they play later on today. The same goes for the NL Wild Card race, as the Dodgers are now temporarily up 2.5 games for both home-field advantage and to make the playoffs on the Cardinals and Marlins who play their games later today.
The Dodgers get the Red Sox again tomorrow night in the series finale at 1:10 PM HST/4:10 PM PST/7:10 PM EST, and the pitching matchup will be Brandon McCarthy (2.76 ERA/3.08 FIP/4.07 DRA) and David Price (4.30 ERA/3.25 FIP/3.35 DRA).
