Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers welcomed back Will Smith, Max Muncy, and Brusdar Graterol tonight, and all three factored into the game, helping the Dodgers to a 7-3 victory over the Cardinals to start their homestand.
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The Cardinals got the first crack on offense and took advantage in the 1st against Dustin May. The game started with a walk, then a double followed, and a wild pitch from May tallied the game’s first run. May then walked another batter, who of course stole second, and was lucky to get out of the inning after having only given up a sacrifice fly to put the Dodgers behind 2-0.
After allowing the first three Cardinals batters of the game to reach, May rebounded by retiring six in a row. However, he started the 3rd by allowing back-to-back walks that put him back under the gun, but managed to escape by getting the heart of the Cardinals order in order … with some help.
May never really felt peace in this outing, pitching around a single in the 4th and then a double and a steal (of course) in the 5th. He labored but he kept his team in the game: 5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 4 K, 104 Pitches.
Fortunately, with the return home so returned the offense against Jack Flaherty. Mookie Betts established this early, with a lead-off homer (his 4th) to left to cut the deficit in half right off the bat.
More followed after a Freddie Freeman single, Muncy walk, and a Jason Heyward no-shift single to right to tie the game at 2-2. Though unfortunately, much like the Cardinals in the 1st, the Dodgers couldn’t capitalize further.
After a quiet 2nd, Freddie started the 3rd with a single, at which point back-to-back doubles from Muncy and Heyward gave the Dodgers a pair of runs and a 4-2 lead. That was where the rally ended, however.
After a clean 4th for Flaherty, the 5th was a mess for him to say the least. After Smith singled, he advanced to second on a wild pitch, but Muncy drew a walk anyway. That’s where things got a bit weird, as Heyward laced a ball to right that looked like a double or homer but was surprisingly caught … and then he was given first base because a catcher’s interference was called.
With the bases now loaded, the Dodgers added to their lead behind a James Outman hit-by-pitch to make it 5-2 and end his streak of seven consecutive strikeouts. Unfortunately, that didn’t apply to the next two hitters, as Miguel Vargas continued his struggles with a strikeout, and then a reliever was brought in to face pinch-hitter Chris Taylor, who also struck out to waste the threat.
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In relief of May, Caleb Ferguson got a clean 6th frame on 11 pitches. Victor Gonzalez followed in the 7th and struggled compared to his previous outings, allowing a single and a walk but no damage thanks to a double play. Brusdar entered for the final out of the frame, and got a harmless pop out.
That gave the Dodgers lineup some time to tack on runs, as after getting just a single in the 6th, they turned a walk by pinch hitter Trayce Thompson in the 7th into two runs after Vargas listened to his father on his first homer of the year to make it 7-2.
To close out the game, the Dodgers went to Shelby Miller in the 8th, who worked around a lead-off walk and a Nolan Arenado fly ball to the track that sure looked like it would be a homer. Then came Alex Vesia, who continued to struggle. A lead-off walk was later followed with a pair of singles that plated a run and made it 7-3, but he did manage to see the game out after 28 pitches.
Sheesh.
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Hm.
Doesn’t even mention the boning.
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14-13, the path to not .500.
Same two teams tomorrow night but an hour earlier and on FS1 with Clayton Kershaw facing Jordan Montgomery at 3:10 PM HT/6:10 PM PT/9:10 PM ET.
