Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers, apparently having had enough of winning — but seriously, probably to get some regulars rest against a tough lefty on what was a pen day — basically started a AAA lineup against the Diamondbacks. Despite this, the Dodgers still managed to even the series with a 3-2 win.
Love baseball.
——
Despite the obvious change in the odds thanks to the starters and lineup, things got off to a promising start with Enrique Hernandez led the game off with a dong, his 12th of the year.
Ross Stripling gave it back immediately in the 1st on a walk and a double, and then gave up another in the 3rd on a single, an errant pick-off throw, and another single. He wasn’t great or anything, but he gave the Dodgers three innings, allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits and a walk, striking out four.
Joe Kelly took over in the 4th and got a 1-2-3 frame and looked … good?
On the other side of things, nothing doing against Ray. After the lead-off homer, the Dodgers got zip until the 6th. That’s when Justin Turner homered to tie the game, his 8th of the year.
Surprisingly that seemed to open the floodgates, as Alex Verdugo followed with a double and then Chris Taylor traded places with him to drive in the go-ahead run and make it 3-2.
Meanwhile, Julio Urias took over for Kelly and continued to excel in his long relief/caddy role, providing three innings of shutout ball, allowing just one hit and one walk, notching a strikeout.
He had some help defensively from Austin Barnes, who was playing second and was turning in Gold Glove plays.
Pedro Baez got the 8th in dominant fashion, getting a 1-2-3 frame with two strikeouts, and since the offense could not provide any further help, Kenley Jansen entered in the 9th to close it out. He got a strikeout, a routine fly out, gave up a single on a great piece of hitting, and induced a bizarre check-swing out in front of the plate. However, D-backs hitters did force him to throw 27 pitches.
Perhaps most relevantly, he threw pitches that were 95 mph with cut. Hmmm.
——
The Dodgers improve to 55-26 with the victory and are now back to 13 games up on the Rockies in the NL West.
The rubber match will be played tomorrow afternoon at 9:40 AM HST/12:40 PM PST/3:40 PM EST, with Tony Gonsolin making his MLB debut against fellow rookie Taylor Clarke.
