Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Coming off their sweep of the Rockies, the Dodgers have also won the first game of their series against the Cubs, 5-3. The makes it four in a row for the Dodgers, who have also won eight of their last nine.
Things are going well. I’m suspicious.
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Things started immediately against Mark Leiter Jr. behind a Mookie Betts lead-off homer, his 19th shot of the year.
Trea Turner followed with a double but was stranded as the Dodgers missed a chance, but they tried to make up for it in the second when a Trayce Thompson double was cashed in by Gavin Lux smashing his 3rd homer of the year for a 3-0 lead.
The Dodgers added another in the 4th behind a solo shot from Justin Turner, his eighth, to make it 4-0.
Leiter was out after five innings, but the Dodgers just got two hit-by-pitches through the 7th against him and the Cubs pen.
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On the other side was Tony Gonsolin, who I’ve quite frankly run out of things to say about. Just elite.
No surprise then that he faced the minimum through three, giving up a single but having it erased on a caught stealing. He also gave up a single in the 4th but he made sure nothing came of it. However, the same couldn’t be said for a single in the 5th, which was cashed in by a two-run homer from Christopher Morel to cut the lead to 4-2.
Hey, it happens. But Gonsolin then proceeded to rebound by retiring the next seven to close his outing. That now makes it two starts in a row he’s gone 7+ frames, which was basically the only thing he had yet to do this year: 7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 93 Pitches.
Brusdar Graterol took over in the 8th and got a ground out to start, but midway through his second batter, he got a visit from the trainer and Dave Roberts. He ended up exiting the appearance, hopefully with a cramp.
Phil Bickford then entered and got a strikeout and groundout for a clean frame at least.
On the other end, another injury concern was put to bed when one of the guys who got hit by a pitch came up again and smashed a homer to center in the 8th. Mookie’s 20th dinger provided insurance and the 5-2 final.
Now a three-run lead, Craig Kimbrel entered for the save in the 9th and looked like he would cruise after he started with back-to-back strikeouts. However, a single was followed by defensive indifference, and then a Seiya Suzuki double was blooped into right just in front of Mookie who probably didn’t lay out for ribs reasons. That scored a run to make it 5-3 and brought the tying run to the plate, then following a walk he was removed after 31 pitches.
Alex Vesia then entered to try and get the save, and he did just that with his typical energy, ending things with a strikeout on a full count.
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Mookie wasn’t about to get another rib broken by Cody Bellinger.
Mookie also doing his job in the clubhouse by making Freddie Freeman the funniest man ever.
This man was scared for his life.
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The Dodgers are now 53-29 on the year, and are temporarily 6.5 games up on the Padres, who are currently playing.
The two teams at the same time tomorrow, 4:10 PM HT/7:10 PM PT/10:10 PM ET, with Tyler Anderson against Keegan Thompson.
