Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
After a mega-sweep of the Diamondbacks to complete their road trip, the Dodgers came home and got swept themselves by the Pirates, who deservedly clowned on them.
So it’s only fitting that they ended their losing streak by beating the Mets 2-0, the team with the best record in the NL.
Baseball, man.
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Starting for the Mets was Taijuan Walker, who has been great on the year, especially of late. While the Dodgers threatened against him early in the 1st and 3rd, they didn’t really get anything done. The 5th escalated quickly, however, as a one-out single from Chris Taylor was followed by a Gavin Lux single to corner the runners, and then Mookie Betts stayed scorching with a single of his own for the game’s first run.
However, that was all they got as Freddie Freeman continued his mini-slump by grounding into a bizarre double play.
Still, the Dodgers built on that success in the 6th, starting things with a Trea Turner double. Will Smith then continued to get unlucky with a lineout to short, and the rally looked like it’d come up short again when things got to two outs, but Justin Turner hit a ball that short-hopped the wall over the head of Starling Marte for a double, a run, and a 2-0 lead. That ended up knocking Walker out of the game.
The Mets pen did their job, getting the final seven outs and allowing just a single and a walk.
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Whether you like it or not, Tony Gonsolin has been the ace of the staff in 2022 so far, and he continued his run of form tonight against the red-hot Mets lineup. He did not give up multiple baserunners in an inning for the outing and limited the Mets to just two at-bats with runners in scoring position.
These outings are impressive because they are no longer him pulling off great escapes all the time to keep his ERA down. He’s just dominating now, trusting his stuff, and getting out after out.
This is now Gonsolin’s fourth consecutive start of six innings and easily represents the best stretch of his career: 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, 89 Pitches.
Perhaps he could’ve continued, but he hasn’t gone past six innings yet and Dave Roberts wasn’t about to change that tonight. Brusdar Graterol was given the 7th and allowed a single but otherwise ran his scoreless inning streak to 8.1 frames.
The 8th belonged to Daniel Hudson, who struck out two in a 1-2-3 frame on just 14 pitches. I had thought that was important as maybe Hudson could come out for the 9th as well with Craig Kimbrel down, but as it turns out the Dodgers were satisfied with whatever mechanical fixes they were giving him a break for. Well, he ended up cruising in the inning with a ground out, fly out, and a strikeout.
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At least the Los Angeles Times used their jinxing powers on the Angels this time.
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The Dodgers improve to 34-17 on the year, getting back to a 108-win pace, and extending their lead in the NL West over the Padres to 4 games after they lost hilariously to the Brewers.
Tomorrow’s game will be at 4:10 PM HT/7:10 PM PT/10:10 PM ET with Tyler Anderson matching up against Chris Bassitt.
