Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers against the Royals seems like a mismatch, but these are the exact teams the Dodgers have struggled with at times this year. Thankfully, they took care of business today, though it came a bit late in an 8-3 victory.
It really all feels inevitable nowadays, as the Dodgers have won 11 in a row and 14 of their last 15.
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Gonna be honest, I had never heard of Daniel Lynch before tonight, but he was pretty impressive. The Dodgers did not have a threat against him for the first four innings, though they did he multiple balls to the warning track that would’ve likely been homers at Dodger Stadium.
Still, it wasn’t at Dodger Stadium, so his first jam was in the 5th after Hanser Alberto reached on an error, Trayce Thompson doubled, and Mookie Betts walked. Well, all Lynch did was settle in and get Trea Turner to foul out, Freddie Freeman to strikeout, and Will Smith to fly out in impressive work that completed his five shutout.
Amir Garrett took over and got a scoreless 6th, but Josh Staumont had an absolute disaster in the 7th. Gavin Lux started the rally by pinch-hitting and singling, then Trayce followed with a hard single to left to put a pair on. In an almost exact replay of the earlier threat, Mookie then walked to load the bases. This time the Dodgers didn’t let the chance pass, as Trea singled to plate two runs and Freddie doubled to the opposite field gap for another.
Luke Weaver then tried to provide some relief, but both inherited runners scored after a wild pitch and a Justin Turner sacrifice fly to make it 5-0.
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While all this was going on, Tony Gonsolin was carving the Royals lineup, not allowing even a baserunner through 5.1 innings. He ended up issuing a pair of walks in the 6th to break up the perfecto, but the no-hitter continued on.
Gonsolin ended up getting through 6.1 innings without a hit, but allowed a single in the 7th to break things up. After a lineout and a double to center that broke up the shutout and make it 5-1, Gonsolin then walked a batter and that was the end of the road for him.
Still, that’s back-to-back quality starts for Gonsolin: 6.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 3 K, 85 Pitches.
The runners brought David Price out of th epen, who got a ground out to end the 7th.
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No worries, the bats got that back and then some. Weaver struggled to open the 8th with back-to-back walks to Max Muncy and Lux, then Joel Payamps came in and poured gasoline on the fire with help from Trayce, who smashed his third hit of the game, a three-run homer to make it 8-1.
Sheesh.
In the 8th it was Reyes Moronta for the Dodgers, who continued to be a dinger machine, walking a batter and then giving up a two-run shot to Salvador Perez to make it 8-3.
Phil Bickford was next, with the duo most likely to be demoted when Blake Treinen and Brusdar Graterol return, and he gave up a double but no runs to close it.
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78-33 on the year. Decent.
| Team | Chase | Games |
|---|---|---|
| Mets | MLB | 6 Up |
| Mets | NL | 6 Up |
| Padres | NL West | 16 Up |
The two teams will do it again tomorrow an hour earlier at 1:10 PM HT/4:10 PM PT/7:10 PM ET with Andrew Heaney making another start in a row (!) against Brad Keller.
