Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
After laying an egg to begin this series, perhaps partially due to not getting to their hotel until like 4 AM, the Dodgers bounced back with a confident 6-2 victory over the Brewers to even the series.
Despite not playing all that well recently, the Dodgers have won 9 of their last 11 games.
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While Eric Lauer seems like an unlikely nemesis, he has owned the Dodgers in his career. Fortunately, he seems to be diminished at the moment, and the Dodgers did finally end up getting to him.
In fact, the fireworks started with the first batter of the game on the second pitch, as Mookie Betts yanked a homer to left to lead things off, his 7th of the year.
They got another run in an interesting way, as Freddie Freeman drew a walk, stole his 5th base of the year, got to third on a pick-off attempt error, and scored on a Will Smith sacrifice fly that made it 2-0.
The Dodgers tacked on further in the 2nd, behind a James Outman double and a Miguel Rojas two-out single the opposite way for a 3-0 lead.
The lineup scored for the third consecutive inning when Will pulled a homer for his 5th of the year to grant a 4-0 lead.
In the 4th, after a two-out walk, Lauer’s night was done and the Dodgers had finally got to their nemesis. But it was kinda out of the frying pan and into the fire as 2020 NLCS Game 4 hero Bryse Wilson was next, and he completed the inning for the first scoreless frame for the Brewers. He then got a clean 5th and it looked like he would continue his work from Game 4, but a Max Muncy single in the 6th was followed by Miguel Vargas turning around a fastball up for his 3rd homer and a 6-0 lead.
Old friend Gus Varland looked like he was going to give up more in the 7th after loading the bases on a pair of walks and a single, but managed to avoid damage. He got in more trouble in the 8th with a walk and hitting a batter while only getting one out, and that was the end of his road.
Varland was relieved by Elvis Peguero, who quickly made things worse with a walk to load the bases, but got the next two without giving up any insurance runs. Peguero also was in trouble in the 9th after a single and an error, but worked around that as well to limit the offense to a somewhat surprising six runs.
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Normally when there aren’t updates on the pitching side of things for the Dodgers, it’s because the starter is dominating and nothing much is going on, but there was actually a lot going on tonight.
Noah Syndergaard started and had an adventure in the 1st. He allowed a single and walked a batter to begin, then got bailed out big time by a jumping catch at the wall from Chris Taylor, and escaped trouble by inducing a double play.
But that was the end of the road for him, as he had to leave due to his finger, which looked … I mean, horrid.
So, pen game it was, and Phil Bickford started in the 2nd with a clean frame. He also started the 3rd, giving up a single and stolen base but getting an out before being removed.
Justin Bruihl entered and also got saved by CT3 in left before closing out the 3rd, and then followed with a much less dramatic 4th in 1-2-3 fashion.
Yency Almonte continued the pen’s success in the 5th with a clean frame of his own, and Victor Gonzalez was dominant yet again for a 10-pitch 6th frame.
The pen’s shutout dreams came to an end when Shelby Miller entered for the 7th and gave up solo shots to both Rowdy Tellez and Victor Caratini to get it within grand slam range at 6-2. Miller also started the 8th with two outs, but then issued a walk and that was the end of the road for him.
Brusdar Graterol entered and immediately allowed a single, but then bounced back with a strikeout to close the frame. Graterol returned for the 9th and got a quick out, but a Vargas error was followed by a walk, and after he retired the next batter his night was done due to throwing 31 pitches.
Evan Phillips being used wasn’t ideal, but he entered and got a groundout after giving me a sweat due to the 3-2 count.
Well done.
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Tony Gonsolin isn’t even starting but manages to provide me with content anyway.
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| NL WEST | RECORD |
|---|---|
| Dodgers | 22-15 |
| Diamondbacks | 20-15 (1 GB)* |
| Padres | 19-17 (2.5 GB) |
*Either still playing or will play later.
The series concludes tomorrow at the ungodly hour of 7:40 AM HT/10:40 PM PT/1:40 PM ET with Clayton Kershaw (2.53 ERA/3.70 FIP/3.30 xERA) facing off against Wade Miley (2.31/3.49/4.01)
