Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
A four-game series against a potential playoff matchup in the Cubs seemed like a solid test for the Dodgers, and they have answered the bell so far by taking the first two games of the series, coming back to win again tonight by a 5-3 score.
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The game got off to a rough start again for the Dodgers, as Rich Hill allowed a 1st inning homer just like Clayton Kershaw did yesterday. Unfortunately, Hill’s was of a two-run variety to Anthony Rizzo that was just out of the reach of Cody Bellinger.
He also gave up a solo homer in the 3rd to Kris Bryant, but those were the only runs he allowed.
Hill settled down quickly, and ended up going seven quality innings, striking out seven and walking none while allowing seven hits on the evening. He allowed just one baserunner after the 3rd inning.
Defense is also cool.
Like yesterday, that gave enough time for the offense to fight back. In the 2nd, Max Muncy hit a one-out double, and then with two outs Matt Beaty slugged his first MLB homer off Kyle Hendricks.
Justin Turner then slugged his seventh dinger of the season, which ended up tying the game and was the 100th of his career.
Beaty was also the cause of runs in the 4th, as he doubled with one out, before The Rake Man himself plopped a single into extremely shallow left to make it 4-3.
The bats scored for the fourth consecutive inning in the 5th, though they did it in an odd way. Alex Verdugo started it with a single, and with one out a Bellinger single put runners at the corners. Muncy then grounded sharply to first, which seemed to be a potential 3-6-3 double play, but Javier Baez tried to get Verdugo at home instead and he was safe.
Pedro Baez relieved Hill in the 8th against the heart of the Cubs order and gave up a single but got through unscathed. He did almost give up the game-tying homer, but it would’ve been hard to fault him for losing it on this.
Kenley Jansen entered for the save and continued his stellar run. One runner did reach on an error after Beaty butchered a play at first, but he retired the other three batters via strikeout to secure the win.
Decent.
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The Dodgers are now 47-23 on the year, and have around a double-digit lead in the NL West.
Walker Buehler will face Yu Darvish tomorrow at 3:10 PM HST/6:10 PM PST/9:10 PM EST.
