After dropping the first two contests of the weekend in disappointing fashion, the Dodgers rebounded in the finale on Sunday to handle the Giants in convincing fashion, 5-0.
To open the scoring, Matt Beaty homered to right in the bottom of the fourth inning, scoring Cody Bellinger, who reached on a walk in the previous AB. The blast was Beaty’s ninth long ball of the year. After four, the Dodgers led, 2-0.
One inning later, after Russell Martin singled to center and Joc Pederson reached on a fielding error, Corey Seager delivered his 14th bomb of the season into the center field stands. Seager’s shot gave the Dodgers a 5-0 lead and closed the scoring for the remainder of the afternoon.
The Dodgers used six total pitchers in the affair. Julio Urias handles the starting duties and tossed two scoreless innings of three-hit ball while striking out four.
Righty Kenta Maeda shouldered most of the workload, throwing four full innings while earning the victory. He allowed just one hit and struck out six batters with no walks. Maeda improved his record to 9-8.
The remainder of the Los Angeles bullpen crew—Casey Sadler, Yimi Garcia, Adam Kolarek and Josh Sborz—did not allow a hit over the final three frames. A walk from Sborz in the ninth inning spoiled the quartet’s bid for perfection.
Starter Dereck Rodriguez threw 4-2/3 innings for the Giants and took the loss. The righty surrendered all five runs—two of which were earned—on three hits and three walks. The loss resulted in Rodriguez’s record falling to 5-9.
With the win, the magic number for the Dodgers to clinch the NL West moves to two games.
In other news, third baseman Justin Turner was out of the lineup for Sunday’s game due to a sore ankle. His absence was initially believed to be the result of a rest day, but the Dodgers later relayed that an ankle injury spurred by him being hit by a pitch on Friday was the chief cause.
After an off day Monday, the Dodgers expect Turner to rejoin the lineup at either third base or designated hitter Tuesday in Baltimore.
Coincidentally, the MLB rescinded Turner’s one-game suspension after he allegedly bumped home plate umpire Rob Drake on August 26 in San Diego.
Wow! Who’s this Maeda guy they got for the bullpen? Urias and Maeda could be a great combo for playoffs!!!!
Sborz has some nasty stuff. Nice to see Beaty and Corey get long balls. Cody is still slumping. Muncy could be back Friday so that is good news. Pitching for the series with the Orioles, Buehler, Stripling and then Hill. Hope he has a good outing. Red Sox fired Dombrowski tonight. One year after they win it all. Baseball is a fickle mistress.
Fickle mistress? Screw that.
Too much?
We G rated in here?
I hate to say it but Will Smith looks near done. His strike out rate for the last month is about 50%. Give him some jacuzzi time then see if he has patched up that bucket size hole in his swing in the last week. He isn’t playoff ready. But, then, who on this team is?
Sborz does have the stuff. Now what?
Rich says we will win the championship. ALL HAIL THE RICH!! Wait… that didn’t sound right. Screw the rich. Wait… that didn’t sound right either. Besides, we are already screwing the fickle mistress. Oops. That don’t sound right either. I’m screwing this all up. Wait, I think I got it. ALL HAIL THE RICH MISTRESS!! Yeah, that works for everyone. But ‘cept the wife maybe. She’s not gonna like any of this. Maybe I’ll just hang up and go to my room now.
You are in serious need of medical attention! Smith found a mechanical flaw in his swing and got 2 hits in Saturdays game. He will be fine, he is just not a .300 hitter. I’ll take .279 with 20 plus dingers over a full season. Grandal never hit that high.
Wow! There must be more to that story than just baseball. How is it his fault that Sale and Price have been hurt and pitched poorly. And if they’re blaming him for their bullpen then AF should be concerned! 😂
They gave no reason that I saw in any of the story’s. He was under contract through next year. Red Sox say they are searching for his replacement already.
We won’t hail anything till the first of November. Hopefully!