Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
After back-to-back losses to the Nationals, the Dodgers have rebounded to win three straight following a 5-4 victory over the Rockies tonight. The victory guarantees them at least a series split, though obviously they’re hoping for more.
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So, uh, Chad Kuhl almost amusingly threw a shutout against the Dodgers last time the two teams met up. Well, the lineup seemed out for blood today.
Things got started immediately in the 1st behind a Trea Turner single and Will Smith yanking his 15th dinger of the year for a 2-0 lead.
They didn’t relent in the 2nd inning either as a Cody Bellinger double was followed by Trayce Thompson‘s fourth dinger of the year, this one to center for a 4-0 lead.
Meanwhile, Julio Urias has been stellar lately and despite having historical troubles at Coors Field, he was great today.
That said, after a clean 1st he ran into mess in the 2nd. A one-out double was followed by a triple to cut into the lead, and it was halved moments later on a sacrifice fly to make it 4-2. But that was about truly it for the Rockies. Urias faced one over the minimum the rest of the way, allowing runners to reach on just an error, a single, and an infield single, but having two of those runners erased by double plays.
He got 16 of his final 18 batters in an impressive Coors outing: 7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 89 Pitches.
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Tracking back a bit, the lineup answered back for Julio in the 3rd, making it a run in every inning. Back-to-back walks to Freddie Freeman and Smith was followed by Jake Lamb reaching on an error to load the bases. Gavin Lux hit a sacrifice fly to make it 5-1, but after a Max Muncy walk to re-load the bases, the Dodgers blew they chance to pile on.
They would also strand a prime scoring chance in the 4th after Mookie Betts led off with a triple. Even with two outs they loaded the bases on a Smith hit by pitch and Lamb walk, but couldn’t push anything across.
It became a trend, as they would strand a RISP for the next three innings: a single and walk in the 5th, a double in the 6th, and a single, wild pitch, and walk in the 7th. Their streak ended in the 8th when they got just a single and then they followed by getting a walk in the 9th, scoring neither times.
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For the Dodgers pen, they had light work to do after Urias’ outing. Evan Phillips got the 8th and didn’t even strikeout the side, instead getting two of them and an infield pop-up.
#SMH
Well, that was fun, but then Craig Kimbrel got the 9th looking for a save. He didn’t really look especially terrible, per se, but he gave up a pair of singles and a walk to load the bases with two outs. Kimbrel then gave up another single to score two runs and make it 5-4 before he got a foul out to left to end the game.
Man, he’s not quite this bad, but it’s ugly.
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The Dodgers improve to 67-32 on the year and are temporarily 12.5 games up on the Padres in the NL West.
Third game of the four-game series at the same 2:10 PM HT/5:10 PM PT/8:10 PM ET time with Clayton Kershaw facing Kyle Freeland.
