Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers saw their six series winning streak come to an end tonight after a 6-5 loss to the Cardinals. While they were game for most of the contest, a late homer sunk them and a late rally fell just short.
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With the Dodgers rotation looking like a medical ward at this point, Noah Syndergaard went out to the mound and I was just hoping his finger wouldn’t fall off.
Well, it didn’t but he also wasn’t pitching well, as he started the game by giving up a pair of singles, a walk, and a stolen base in the 1st. Thankfully that only led to a single run scoring.
Things didn’t break quite as well in the 3rd, as Thor hit a batter and gave up a stolen base, and Alec Burleson doubled to score another run. After an infield single was changed to a groundout after review, a runner was on third, and Lars Nootbaar hit a sacrifice fly for the inning’s second run and a 3-0 lead.
He faced the minimum the rest of the way, as in the 3rd after he picked off Nolan Arenado after a single.
The bar is on the floor at this point, but he gave the Dodgers innings and kept them in the game: 5 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 4 K, 80 Pitches.
Opposing him was Miles Mikolas, who retired the first 10 batters he faced before a Freddie Freeman double in the 4th with one out that amounted to nothing. But in the 5th the Dodgers looked on the verge of getting to Mikolas, as a one-out double was followed with an infield single to corner the runners. Mikolas got out of that trouble, but couldn’t do the same the next frame.
The top of the lineup started the 6th, and they put it on Miles, with singles from Mookie Betts and Freddie, then a J.D. Martinez homer on a 3-2 pitch, his 6th of the year to tie the game at 3-3.
Mikolas actually ended up pitching through the 7th before his night was over.
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For the Dodgers pen, Yency Almonte faced the minimum in the 6th after erasing a single with a double play, and Justin Bruihl got a 1-2-3 inning in the 7th to keep the momentum rolling.
Victor Gonzalez then lost his 0.00 ERA in the 8th, as he surrendered a lead-off double and got a strikeout, but then Dave Roberts decided to intentionally walk Paul Goldschmidt, which let Nolan Gorman smash a three-run shot to make it 6-3.
NOLAN GORMAN CLOBBERS ONE OUT FOR THE LEAD 💪
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) May 21, 2023
📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/CAySsAlk4L
Tyler Cyr then took over for Victor, and allowed a single but got the final two outs of the 8th to close the book on the Cards.
To close the game out for the Cardinals, Ryan Helsley hit a batter in the 8th but that was all he surrendered, and then he continued in the 9th. That seems to have been a mistake as he started by giving up a double to Miguel Vargas, then a single to David Peralta to corner the runners, and a Jason Heyward double brought Vargas in to make it 6-4 and knocked him out of the game.
That summoned Giovanny Gallegos from the pen, who got a soft infield liner, a Will Smith sacrifice fly (that should’ve been a walk) to score Peralta and make it 6-5, before getting a “strikeout” of Mookie that also should’ve been a walk.
Terrible job by the umpires at the end to not even give the Dodgers a chance.
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| NL WEST | RECORD |
|---|---|
| Dodgers | 29-18 |
| Diamondbacks | 26-20 (2.5 GB) |
*Either still playing or will play later.
The series concludes way too early on a getaway day at 8:15 AM HT/11:15 AM PT/2:15 PM ET, and Clayton Kershaw (2.52 ERA/3.20 xERA/3.61 DRA) will be facing Jack Flaherty (5.24/5.21/4.95).
