Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The rubber match of the series against the rival Giants started out about as frustratingly as possible due to a bunch of unlucky runs, sloppy play, and umpire incompetence. However, the Dodgers eventually broke out in a 10-5 win thanks in large part to two more homers in San Francisco from Max Muncy, and things like an epic 15-pitch walk from Freddie Freeman.
A winning record!
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Over his career Clayton Kershaw has been dominant against the rival Giants, but things started off terribly tonight. Back-to-back bloop singles hit below 80 mph got him in early trouble to begin the game, and after a ground out left runners at the corners, J.D. Davis lifted a sac fly for a run. Kershaw wasn’t able to stop the damage there, as Darin Ruf doubled in another run to put the Giants up 2-0. Things didn’t clear up in the 2nd either. A bunt single was followed by a hard-hit double-play ball that bounced off Miguel Vargas about five times for an error, and a Wilmer Flores single made it 3-0.
From there, Kershaw largely settled in, getting back-to-back clean frames in the 3rd and 4th, facing just one over the minimum in the 5th despite a pair of walks thanks to a double play, and then getting a clean 6th.
He wasn’t at his sharpest again tonight, but he continued to battle through it and gave the Dodgers length: 6 IP, 5 H, 3 R (2 ER), 2 BB, 4 K, 100 Pitches.
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Early on, it didn’t look like Kershaw would’ve been in line for the win when he was officially relieved, but he was thanks to a Dodgers offense that came alive late.
The bats got threats started early with a Freddie walk and Will Smith single against Alex Cobb in the 1st, but J.D. Martinez got hosed to end the threat.
The Dodgers had another runner in scoring position in the 2nd after a Vargas dribbler in front of the plate and a wild throwing error by Cobb, but couldn’t cash that in either.
After just a single in the 3rd, the Dodgers finally got on the board in the 4th. A triple from Martinez, hilariously his second on the road trip, started the rally, and James Outman cashed that in with a single to cut the deficit to 3-1.
Unfortunately, what seemed like a stolen base was made into a caught stealing on review for Outman. That was even more important when David Peralta and Miguel Rojas followed with back-to-back singles, and Mookie Betts cashed in another run with a double to make it 3-2 and knock Cobb out of the game.
Old friend Scott Alexander got the Giants out of the 4th, but it took an amazing catch to rob Freddie in center.
Alexander couldn’t keep the lead into the 5th, as a Muncy driven by his hatred of San Francisco drilled a ball to center for a game-tying homer to make it 3-3.
The Giants then went with another lefty to start the 6th in Taylor Rogers, and he had a bad time. He started by walking Trayce Thompson, then went to 3-2 on Chris Taylor, who also walked after a pitch clock violation. Trayce helped him a bit by yelling about a balk and distracting Rogers or something.
Anyway, that was followed by a Mookie walk on five pitches, which setup a 15-pitch epic against Freddie, who drew a walk to force home a run and bat flipped the shit out of it for a 4-3 lead. That ended the nightmare, at least for Rogers, since he was done.
After a sacrifice fly to center from Will to push the lead to 5-3, the Beacon Of Hatred stepped up to the plate and destroyed a pitch to right for his second homer of the night and a 8-3 lead. Just absolutely shit on it.
You have to laugh at this point. What a legend.
The Dodgers didn’t let up in the 7th, as a Vargas walk was followed by Trayce clobbering a two-run homer to left-center field and pushing the game to 10-3.
That was it for the bats, as they stranded a walk and a double in the 8th and went down in order in the 9th, though obviously they did more than enough.
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Of course, there was still the issue of the Dodgers pen after Kershaw exited. Yency Almonte did allow a run on three soft singles in the inning to make it 10-4, but it’s nothing to be worried about in a vacuum. However, he has just one strikeout this year, and any reliever not able to miss bats is at risk of some bad luck.
Evan Phillips also got off to a rough start in the 8th with a single, especially considering his shaky outing last time, but rebounded emphatically with three strikeouts. That turned things over to Phil Bickford in the 9th, who gave up a long homer to make the final score of 10-5 before getting the last outs of the game.
Pen still seems like a worry, but a win is a win.
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Good timing on the shirt.
He’s back.
I need it.
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7-6, a winning record.
After a day off tomorrow, the Dodgers will be at home against the Cubs at 4:10 PM HT/7:10 PM PT/10:10 PM ET, and Noah Syndergaard will look to rebound against Justin Steele.
