FSM Essential Recap: Dodgers vs Mariners - Series 6

FSM Essential Recap: Dodgers vs Mariners – Series 6

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Los Angeles Dodgers (14-4)  |  Seattle Mariners (11-7)

 

“I’m going to sit back, light up, and hope I don’t chew the cigarette to pieces.”

– Vin Scully

 

Game 2:

 

Julio Urías ferociously attacked the zone on Tuesday, striking out a career-high 11 in a … win over the Mariners on Tuesday afternoon in Seattle.

Urías entered Tuesday already atop MLB with an 80.5-percent first-pitch strike rate but ramped that up a few notches against the Mariners. The left-hander not only threw first-pitch strikes to 19 of his 23 batters faced but started 0-2 on 13 hitters.

That allowed Urías to complete seven innings for the second time in four starts this season, matching a career-best. His 11 strikeouts were two better than his previous high mark, set both on April 18, 2019, and in Game 4 of the 2020 World Series.

The only hit Urías allowed was an infield single by Mitch Haniger in the third inning, but after that, Urías retired his final 13 batters faced.

Urías induced 17 swinging strikes, his most in a start in two years, including nine on his slurve, a pitch Urías revamped midway during last season. He finished off six of his 11 strikeouts with the slurve.

“They’re moving differently. It’s not a normal pitch, to me,” said catcher Austin Barnes. “I haven’t seen a curveball quite like that. He’s coming out way on the side, and he’s landing it at a really high rate. It does different things all the time. … It’s a hard pitch for them to get their sights on.”

“It’s harder than a normal curveball,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “But the thing is, the arm speed is still the same, it’s coming out of the same lane as his fastball, and he can strike it.”

On Monday night, Dylan Moore was at third base when his diving snag of a Will Smith line drive turned a potential game-tying hit into an inning-ending out. Tuesday afternoon, Moore was at second base when Chris Taylor’s 107.8-mph smash met an untimely demise.

 

That play also prevented a run from scoring, and even though Corey Seager followed with an untouched drive of his own for an RBI single, it prompted Orel Hershiser on the SportsNet LA broadcast to say, “As soon as Corey hit it, I just wondered, ‘Where is Dylan Moore,’” the Bulldog said.

That was the only offense against Marco Gonzales, who, like Urías, retired his final 13 batters faced. Gonzales allowed three batters to reach base, all in the third inning but got the Dodgers in order in his other six innings.

The Dodgers only scored eight runs in the final four games of the road trip but managed to win two of those games, both shutouts by the pitching staff.

“Baseball goes in waves. We started out pretty hot,” said Barnes, who walked, one of six times the Dodgers reached base on Tuesday. “We can win games in a lot of different ways. Our pitching will always keep us in games, and that’s important. We’ll scratch those runs across.”

After Victor Gonzales worked around a walk to pitch a scoreless eighth inning, Kenley Jansen closed things out with a perfect ninth for his fourth save of the year, this one on three days rest.

When Jansen has pitched with zero or one day of rest this season, he allowed runs in both outings. But in his five games with at least two days rest, Jansen has pitched 5⅔ scoreless innings, with eight strikeouts and three walks.

 

Game 2 Boxscore:

 

WP:  Julio Urías (3-0 / 2.81 ERA)

LP:  Marco Gonzales (1-2 / 6.04 ERA)

SV:  Kenley Jansen (4)

 

The Dodgers now have a day off before welcoming the Padres to Dodger Stadium to kick off a four-game series starting Thursday night. The Fryers have not named a starting pitcher, while the Dodgers will start Walker Buehler. The first pitch is at 7:10 pm and can be seen on SportsNet L.A. and on MLB Network.

 

 

Game 1:

 

Dodgers losing streak reaches two as offense goes quiet yet again. Los Angeles finished the game with just five hits and stranded eight runners.

Aside from a home run, no real offense from the Dodgers on Monday night as they fell to the Mariners, 4-3. They now have a two-game losing streak. EVERYONE PANIC!

Well, no. They’ll be fine. But still, losing isn’t fun. I prefer the winning streak.

On the night, the Dodgers offense had only five hits, and they stranded eight runners on base while going 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

The Mariners jumped out quickly, putting up three runs in the first two innings thanks to two home runs. After that, Dustin May settled down just nicely. He gave the Dodgers five strong innings, striking out eight, which tied his career-high.

The storyline of the night in regards to May was his curveball. He got eight whiffs on it, which is the most he’s ever had on that pitch in his career. Entering the game, he only had two whiffs on the pitch on the season. For the game, he had 13 whiffs total.

May continues to impress early on this season with his strikeout numbers. On the season, he has 22 strikeouts in 15 ¹⁄₃ innings of work. We’ve always known May has some of the nastiest stuff out there, but he was never able to translate it into swing-and-misses. Through a few starts this season, he’s showing his ability to get whiffs, which is definitely an encouraging sign.

“It was a tough feeling for me. I guess I failed the team today. The hitters hit well. It was kind of poor execution on my end,” May said.

 

The Dodgers put some runs on the board in the third inning thanks to a two-run home run from Corey Seager, his third of the season.

The difference-maker ended up coming in the bottom of the fourth inning. With two outs and the bases empty, a routine groundout to Chris Taylor resulted in an error, putting a runner on first base. The error ended up costing the Dodgers. On a 3-2 pitch, Taylor Trammell, who homered earlier, doubled down the right-field line, bringing in that run. That run ended up being the run that gave the Mariners the one-run victory.

The Dodgers threatened in the seventh with two runners on and one out, but Kendall Graveman struck out Justin Turner, and Mariners third baseman Dylan Moore made a leaping catch at third base to rob Will Smith of a base hit that would have tied it.

“The Will Smith liner … it could have been a different game,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

“He has a knack for making plays,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. “He’s super athletic. You see the diving plays, and he finishes plays. A lot of guys dive and knock it down but, the ball kicks out of their glove. Doesn’t happen so much with Dylan.”

It looked as if the Dodgers were about to rally in the ninth. Edwin Rios walked, and Mookie Betts got hit by a pitch (hopefully he’s okay) to put two on for Seager, arguably the top guy you’d want at the plate. He grounded into a game-ending double play, sending the Dodgers home with the loss.

 

Game 1 Boxscore:

 

WP: Justus Sheffield (1-1 /  4.86 ERA)

LP: Dustin May (1-1 / 2.93 ERA)

SV: Rafael Montero (3)

HR: Corey Seager (3) Jose Marmolejos (3) Taylor Trammell (3)

 

The Dodgers and Mariners are back at it this afternoon. Julio Urias (2-0 / 3.86) will face off against Marco Gonzales (1-1 / 8.22). The first pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m and the game can be seen on SportsNet LA & MLB Network.

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Joe Arrigo

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