Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Following three absolutely brutal losses in a row, the Dodgers bounced back against the Rockies in nail-biting fashion, making a 2nd-inning homer stick as they threw a shutout to secure the 1-0 win.
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Rockies starter Kyle Freeland entered today’s game with an ERA over 5 on the year, but fortunately he faced a Dodgers lineup that looked more like a Spring Training split squad. He went seven innings, surrendering just five hits and walking none while striking out six.
Fortunately, Austin Barnes did turn on a curve ball and yanked a homer (his fourth) down the line in left for a 1-0 lead.
After Mychal Givens got a scoreless 8th, the book was closed on the Dodgers.
Fortunately, Tony Gonsolin continued to look like he’s turning the corner in terms of appearance length in July. He entered tonight with a 2.87 ERA in the month despite being stretched out further, and he definitely lowered that tonight. One at-bat after a double in the 1st was the only one he faced with a RISP the entire game, as he allowed just four baserunners in his start, lowering his ERA to 2.38: 5.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K, 81 Pitches.
Alex Vesia entered in relief, as his recent stretch has apparently made him the high leverage lefty now, and quite frankly it’s hard to blame Dave Roberts for that. While he issued a walk, he also got four outs, working into the 7th. Joe Kelly then entered to get the last out of the inning and did so with a strikeout.
Blake Treinen then got the 8th and cruised through it, getting a 1-2-3 frame on just eight pitches, including a strikeout. He seemed like he could go out for the 9th at least to start in order to minimize the work the struggling Kenley Jansen would have to do, but he was pinch hit for.
Kenley then got the 9th against the heart of the Rockies order, starting out nicely with an infield pop from Charlie Blackmon and then a fly out from Trevor Story that made it two outs on four pitches. Ryan McMahon then followed and battled to an eight-pitch walk, but C.J. Cron then struck out on three pitches to end it.
Breathe.
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Cody Bellinger contributing.
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The Dodgers get to 60 wins in 100 games, cutting the NL West deficit to 2.5 games behind the Giants.
Josiah Gray will look for the series win tomorrow at 4:10 PM HST/7:10 PM PST/10:10 PM EST against his color family member Jon Gray.
