Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
After fluking into two wins against the terrible Angels, the Dodgers shit the bed all game against the Guardians tonight in a 2-1 loss.
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Guardians starter Zach Plesac has been mediocre in 2022, which makes the Dodgers lineup right now just what he needed.
Still, while the Dodgers still haven’t really been able to find hits with runners on, they did get an early lead thanks to Cody Bellinger drilling a ball custom made for his nitro zone for his eighth homer of the year.
They also stranded a single in the 1st, a double and a walk in the 3rd, a double and a single in the 5th, and a walk and an error in the 6th through increasingly creative means.
Meanwhile, Clayton Kershaw was on the mound for the Dodgers and didn’t look completely comfortable yet, still working through a bit of command issues. That said, he worked around traffic for the most part because Kershaw is still Kershaw, giving up his only run in the 4th in an inning that started with an infield single, a single against the shift, and a sacrifice fly. Even with an unlucky start to that inning he minimized the damage and exited tied 1-1.
5 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 4 K, 81 Pitches
In the 6th, Alex Vesia took over and issued a walk, but did get four outs for a nice start to the pen’s work. Brusdar Graterol took over in the 7th and got five outs without giving up anything and included two strikeouts. The 9th was given to Daniel Hudson even though Craig Kimbrel is the closer, and he cruised through a seven-pitch frame.
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On the other side of the pen war, the Guardians faced immediate trouble in the 7th thanks to a pair of singles, but of course the threat ended quickly on a double play.
The 8th was extremely quiet as they went down in order, though they had a walk-off chance in the 9th against Trevor Stephan in his second inning. Things started well, with a Cody single against the shift and then a stolen base from him to immediately up the tension. Of course, Chris Taylor then struck out and Hanser Alberto seemed to pop out, but Oscar Gonzalez then just dropped a fly ball in right field and that put runners on the corners.
Surely then … SURELY the Dodgers could score after that. Well no, Gavin Lux struck out and Trea Turner then popped out to Gonzalez.
Evan Phillips then entered in extras and immediately gave up a single off Justin Turner‘s glove to corner the runners. A Richie Palacios sacrifice fly followed for a 2-1 lead to the Guardians, and though Phillips did issue a walk after, he didn’t give up another run.
That left it up for the heart of the Dodgers order to scratch across a run. Things started with Freddie Freeman striking out, then it went like ground out, walk, and then strikeout for JT, who looks about below replacement level or whatever. Who cares nobody’s reading this shit.
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39-24 on the year and a half-game back of the Padres in the NL West.
The two teams play again tomorrow but a bit earlier this year at 1:15 PM HT/4:15 PM PT/7:15 PM ET on FOX, with Julio Urias facing Cal Quantrill.
