Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
I love the Dodgers, but a day-night doubleheader is just brutal, man.
Anyway, at least the Dodgers took the first game of the day over the Diamondbacks, coming back from an early 3-0 deficit with a bombardment of homers for an eventual 7-6 win.
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Rookie starter Ryan Pepiot took the hill and generally looked pretty solid, showcasing more of his arsenal but got bitten by his command issues.
He started out roughly in the 1st, walking the first two batters of the game, but rebounded with three outs including a pair of whiffs. He then struck out two more in a clean 2nd, and then got the first two outs of the 3rd. However, his control issues then reared their ugly head, and Pepiot issued a walk that led to a Pavin Smith single after a passed ball for a run, which led to Christian Walker smashing a two-run homer for a 3-0 lead.
He then rebounded with a 1-2-3 frame in the 4th, just about summing up where he is in his development at the moment: 4 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 5 K, 87 Pitches.
While all this was going on, Tyler Gilbert was absolutely dealing. After a single to start the game, he then retired six straight batters. Gilbert was greeted with another single in the 3rd, but faced the minimum after it was erased by a double play.
The Dodgers finally got a bit of a breakthrough in the 4th with Will Smith proving Gilbert can bleed by smashing his third homer of the year to cut into the lead. But he got right back to dominating with a clean 5th frame.
Fortunately, with both pens taxed and looking for length, Gilbert was forced to remain in for a while in the 6th as the Dodgers put up a crooked number behind a Hanser Alberto single, Mookie Betts‘ eighth homer for the tie, Trea Turner‘s second homer for the lead, a Max Muncy walk, and a Justin Turner two-run shot to pile on and make it 6-3 in a hurry.
Out of the pen for the Dodgers was Justin Bruihl, who faced the minimum in the 5th after allowing a bunt single but picking him off. He then got one out in the 6th before giving way to Mitch White, who completed the inning. As he continued on the 7th, Alek Thomas drilled a homer to cut the lead to 6-4, and after a walk and a Hanser error, there were two on.
That led to Alex Vesia entering, and he gave up a hot shot to Hanser, which he also couldn’t glove to make it 6-5 before Vesia notched a strikeout to end the 7th.
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Eventually Gilbert was knocked out of the game in the 6th, and by the 7th the Dodgers rallied against the Diamondbacks pen. A Betts double was followed by a Freddie Freeman single, shockingly the last Dodger to do something on the day, to up the lead to 7-5.
Fortunately, that would be all they needed as Evan Phillips locked down the 8th after a lead-off walk and Craig Kimbrel took over for the save. He started off with a walk after a bad check-swing call that led to Dave Roberts being ejected, but settled down with back-to-back strikeouts. However, after defensive indifference and an intentional balk led to the runner advancing to third, an infield single cut the lead to 7-6 before Kimbrel got another strikeout to end it.
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23-12 on the year and suddenly winners of three straight. Now a game up on the Padres in the NL West.
The second game of the day begins at 4:10 PM HT/7:10 PM PT/10:10 PM ET with Tyler Anderson against Merrill Kelly. Time to get a nap.
