Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The six-game winning streak came to a halt tonight in a 5-1 loss, as all the breaks that went the way of the Dodgers in the last two weeks simply didn’t come tonight against the Twins.
They’ll still play for six straight series wins tomorrow.
======
Taking the ball tonight, the Dodgers were desperate to get innings out of Clayton Kershaw, but he wasn’t sharp and was lucky to give up only the damage he did.
Kershaw gave up a double, an RBI single to Kyle Farmer, and hit a batter in the 1st, gave up a single, stolen base, and infield single in the 2nd, an infield single and a steal in the 3rd, and then a walk, a single, and a Willi Castro RBI single in the 4th that staked the Twins to a 2-0 lead.
Kershaw got whiffs but had a lot of deep counts and generally labored. Considering the circumstances, it definitely wasn’t the right time to push him further, and he was done after the four frames.
4 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 7 K, 90 Pitches
If you needed any evidence the pen was taxed, Shelby Miller threw 30 pitches and got five outs yesterday and was forced to get two frames today. He gave up a run in the 5th on a walk, steal, hit by pitch, and safety squeeze by Ryan Jeffers to make it 3-0, but rebounded for a clean 6th frame.
Giant human Bailey Ober started for the Twins and he generally limited the Dodgers offense, even if it was their getaway day lineup.
They did have their chances against him to cut into the deficit, but stranded a double and walk in the 1st, a single in the 3rd, and a double and single in the 4th (that ended with a failed double steal with Max Muncy and J.D. Martinez).
After their third lead-off double of the game in the 5th by Miguel Rojas, things looked bleak with two outs, but Freddie Freeman blooped one in for an RBI single to cut the lead to 3-1. Ober did rebound with a clean 6th to keep the lead intact.
The rest of the way for the Dodgers pen started with Victor Gonzalez for a scoreless 7th, in which he gave up a single and a walk but no runs. Then it was Justin Bruihl for a third consecutive day, and after he got through a scoreless 8th despite a single and a steal, he gave up a double and a homer to Farmer in the 9th to make it 5-1 before closing the book on the Twins.
Meanwhile, the Twins pen started in the 7th, and they stranded a lead-off double in the inning for the third time in the game. While the Dodgers did get two walks to load the bases, there was no timely hitting to be found tonight.
The lineup also went down in order in the 8th and then they got just a single in the 9th to kind of end it on an anticlimactic note.
——
Defense!
======
| NL WEST | RECORD |
|---|---|
| Dodgers | 27-16 |
| Diamondbacks | 24-18 (2.5 GB)* |
| Padres | 20-23 (7 GB) |
*Either still playing or will play later.
The series finale will be a day game tomorrow at 9:10 AM HT/12:10 PM PT/3:10 PM ET with Dustin May (2.68 ERA/3.38 xERA/4.58 DRA) facing off against Sonny Gray (1.39/2.91/3.18).
