Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
After enjoying a successful but brief 6-1 homestand, the Dodgers started their road trip with a trip to Arizona for a three-game series with the Diamondbacks.
After a 3-1 victory tonight, the Dodgers are now winners of six in a row and 10 of their last 11.
——
Walker Buehler was simply outstanding as he had basically everything working and looked every bit of the front-line starter that the Dodgers envision.
The only blemish for him came in the 5th inning when Christian Walker drilled a 97 mph fastball to center for a solo shot. Other than that, he gave up just an single against the shift in the 8th.
Buehler allowed just those two hits, walking none and striking out 11 in eight dominant innings that spanned 102 pitches.
That’s not to say it wasn’t eventful, as he had a bit of a feud with Ildemaro Vargas…
"Sir, let us compete with great passion." pic.twitter.com/EHCG043yui
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) June 4, 2019
"Please take a seat so that you may be rested for the next duel." pic.twitter.com/4owaaEIVMO
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) June 4, 2019
…and a friendlier exchange with Walker later.
On the flip side, the Dodgers didn’t have much going either against Robbie Ray, which isn’t much of a shock given the history. However, in the 4th, a one-out single from Justin Turner was followed by a walk from David Freese. That set the table for the red-hot Corey Seager, who smashed a ball up in the zone the other way for his eighth dong of the year, a three-run shot.
The offense managed just those three runs on seven hits and one walk, which is quite mediocre for their standards, but it was enough.
Kenley Jansen was summoned out of the pen to get the save, and he did exactly that with a infield pop, a weak grounder, and then got a bit of drama going by surrendering a double. However, he rebounded nicely by inducing another infield pop-up to end it.
——
The Dodgers are now 42-19, which is a 112-win pace, and they are now 9.5 games clear of the Rockies in the NL West and are a half-game clear of the Twins for the best record in baseball.
The two teams will do it again tomorrow at 3:40 PM HST/7:40 PM PST/10:40 PM EST and they’ll send ace Hyun-Jin Ryu (LHP/1.48 ERA/2.55 FIP/1.91 DRA) to the mound against rookie Taylor Clarke (RHP/5.19 ERA/4.78 FIP/4.75 DRA).
