Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Thankfully, today was the last game the Dodgers will have to play at Coors Field in 2022, and they took the series thanks to a 7-3 win over the Rockies that was led by debutant James Outman.
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The Dodgers were the ones who struck first against German Marquez, who did get a relatively quiet first two frames. However, in the 3rd a Cody Bellinger infield single was followed by Outman smashing the third pitch he saw in his MLB debut for a two-run homer to right.
Tony Gonsolin was on the other side and looking to rebound from his first start out of the All-Star break, and he was … fine considering it was Coors.
He gave up a single in the 1st and had to work around a lead-off double in the 2nd, but managed to keep things clean. The 3rd started with Brian Serven homering to cut the lead in half, and the Rockies later loaded the bases with one out behind a hit by pitch, walk, and an infield single that basically stopped on the foul line. Randal Grichuk capitalized on the chance, singling to right for a 3-2 lead to the Rockies before Gonsolin rolled a double play to get him out of the jam.
So that wasn’t great, but including the double play, Gonsolin closed his outing by retiring seven in a row to get through five frames: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 6 K, 92 Pitches.
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Yet when Gonsolin exited he did so with the lead, as immediately after the crooked number for the Rockies, the Dodgers put one up of their own in the 4th. Walks from Jake Lamb and Max Muncy gave them two on with two outs, and Bellinger ripped a double to right that Grichuk sorta botched it and two runs scored for a 4-3 lead.
Marquez got through a scoreless 5th, but faced trouble against in the 6th. The Dodgers manufactured a run after a Lamb lead-off double, moving him to third on a groundout and then Muncy hitting a sacrifice fly to push the lead to 5-3.
The lineup didn’t stop pushing, as they added another in the 7th against the Rockies pen behind back-to-back singles from Outman and Mookie Betts, then Freddie Freeman doubling Outman home for a 6-3 lead.
The Outman show continued in the 8th. A Gavin Lux walk was advanced to second on a groundout, and he then stole third. With two down in the frame, Outman stepped up and drilled his third hit of the day, a double to right that made it 7-3 and put him in rare company.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers pen was hard at work. Yency Almonte entered in the 6th and got five dominant outs that included three strikeouts. He handed things over to Alex Vesia, who got two outs to end the 7th and started the 8th, but gave up a single and then departed.
Phil Bickford took over and closed out a scoreless 8th, but did give up another single to provide some real trouble for once. Of course, to close out the game was Craig Kimbrel, who gave up a double but got a nice inning with a pair of strikeouts even if it took 26 pitches.
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Orel Hershiser was getting wild pre-game.
He also said “bruh” and called his shot with Outman.
Trea Turner hyping Trayce Thompson up.
Dodgers dugout is … interesting.
Duck.
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The Dodgers improve to 68-33 and temporarily hold a 12.5-game lead over the Padres in the NL West.
They’ll now travel to San Francisco for a series against the Giants starting at 3:45 PM HT/6:45 PM PT/9:45 PM ET with Andrew Heaney against Logan Webb.
