Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Following the loss to end their winning streak and drop them another game behind the Giants, the Dodgers rebounded in a game that was way too early for me against the Reds, winning 5-1.
Unsurprisingly at this point, Max Scherzer continued to deal and he was supported by a surprise of a bright spot in Gavin Lux, who continues his tear.
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Scherzer entered his start today with 0.88 ERA in eight excellent starts with the Dodgers that includes a 1.26 FIP. It’s ridiculous, to say the least, and the amazing part is he only continued to get better.
Amusingly then, Scherzer wasn’t even at his sharpest early, giving up a walk and a single in the 2nd, a double in the 3rd, and another walk in the 4th, but he just destroyed to close the game. Scherzer retired the final 12 batters he faced in another start without allowing a run: 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K, 96 Pitches.
The lineup got off to a rough start against Sonny Gray, who had three perfect innings to start and only had a perfecto broken up with two outs in the 4th thanks to an infield single. But things started to unravel a bit for the Reds in the 5th, as a Justin Turner double started the rally and Chris Taylor reached on an infield single that was more like an error as Mike Moustakas threw it away to put two in scoring position.
That’s when Gavin Lux continued his hot close to the season, tripling down the right-field line to plate a pair. He later scored on a grounder in front of the plate from Austin Barnes to make it 3-0.
A three-spot in the fifth! pic.twitter.com/KCNgcM4auX
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 18, 2021
The 6th started with a Trea Turner infield single and a Max Muncy walk, then a ground out cornered the runners. Insurance was brought home after Taylor laid down a successful safety squeeze to make it 4-0.
Jeff Hoffman took over in the 7th and Art Warren got the 8th, both scoreless innings. Amir Garrett tried to get the 9th but continued his struggles, walking Barnes, giving up a single to Albert Pujols off the glove of Moustakas that prevented a double, and then surrendered a single to Mookie Betts that could’ve been a double if Pujols wasn’t running in front of him. 5-0.
Joe Kelly got a scoreless 8th and Alex Vesia should’ve closed out the game in the 9th with the same. However, with two outs he issued a walk and gave up a single off the wall in right, then a grounder to Corey Seager was thrown in the dirt and couldn’t be scooped by Muncy at first. That scored a run for the Reds and brought out Dave Roberts, who turned to Kenley Jansen. They didn’t need anymore dramatics in this game, and he got a strikeout to end it.
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The Dodgers get to 95-54 on the year and cut the NL West deficit to 1.5 games behind the Giants, who play later today.
The series finale should be interesting with Clayton Kershaw piggybacked by Tony Gonsolin facing off against old pain in the neck Wade Miley. It will, again, be way too early: 7:10 AM HT/10:10 AM PT/1:10 PM ET.
