FSM Essential Recap: Dodgers vs Diamondbacks - Series 23

FSM Essential Recap: Dodgers vs Diamondbacks – Series 23

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Los Angeles Dodgers (44-27)  |  Arizona Diamondbacks (20-53)

 

“Baseball is like driving. It’s the one who gets home safely that counts.”

– Tommy Lasorda

 

Game 3:

 

This game got too close for comfort, as the Dodgers nearly blew an eight-run lead. Luckily they pulled through, pulling out the 9-8 victory to give L.A. the sweep over the D-Backs.

It took a couple of innings to heat things up, but the Dodgers piled on all nine of their runs over the course of innings 3-5. After a leadoff strikeout, Chris Taylor and AJ Pollock each reached base to start the rally. Justin Turner then singled in the first run of the game for the Dodgers.

Albert Pujols stepped up to the plate and crushed a three-run homer, giving the Dodgers the 4-0 lead. For Pujols, it’s his sixth home run already while with the Dodgers. Since he debuted with the Dodgers on May 17, his six homers are tied for the team lead.

The runs wouldn’t stop there. After a walk from Andy Burns, Steven Souza Jr. tripled in a run. He had a fantastic series in Arizona, a place where he suffered a near career-ending injury two years ago.

L.A. added two more runs an inning later. After back-to-back hits to begin the inning, AJ Pollock doubled in two runs to give the Dodgers a 7-0 lead. Pollock had a great series in his former home ballpark, as he recorded five hits during the three-game series, including three on Sunday.

Tony Gonsolin got the start for the Dodgers and had another solid outing for L.A. He gave them 3 ²⁄₃ innings but threw only 46 pitches. Prior to the game, Dave Roberts said that Gonsolin would throw only 45-60 pitches. Gonsolin had two strikeouts and didn’t issue a walk. After he had a rough start to his season, he’s allowed only two runs in 7 ¹⁄₃ innings since his 2021 debut.

 

Well, this game looked to be in cruise control, but the D-Backs battled back into this game. Entering the eighth inning down 9-2, Arizona scored six runs to make it a one-run game. Edwin Uceta got roughed up, as he allowed five runs in his 1 ²⁄₃ innings of work. Victor Gonzalez relieved Uctea, but allowed three of four batters to reach base.

With two outs, Arizona had runners on the corners and trailed by only one run. Luckily for Gonzalez, he was able to escape the jam by getting a groundout, sending the game to the ninth inning.

Kenley Jansen took over in the ninth with a one-run lead and shut things down, retiring the side in order to give the Dodgers the win.

 

Game 3 Boxscore:

 

WP: Garrett Cleavinger (2-3)

LP: Alex Young (2-5)

SV: Kenley Jansen (18)

HR: Albert Pujols (11)

 

The Dodgers traveled to San Diego where they’ll have a crucial three-game series against the Padres start tonight.

 

 

Game 2:

 

Walker Buehler took a no-hitter into the eighth, and Will Smith had three hits, including a home run in the Dodgers’ 9-3 rout of the Diamondbacks on Saturday night at Chase Field in Phoenix.

Buehler struck out a season-high 11 batters on Saturday, allowing only two singles, two walks, and a hit by pitch in 7⅓ innings. He pitched into the eighth for the first time since a complete-game win on August 3, 2019, and his 108 pitches were his most since throwing 117 Game 5 of the 2019 NLDS.

After a walk to Ketel Marte to open the fourth inning, Buehler retired his next 12 batters faced before David Peralta’s eighth-inning single broke up a chance at history. One out later, Nick Ahmed singled to left. That ended Buehler’s night, but despite the game being played in Arizona, Buehler received a standing ovation from a Dodgers-heavy crowd at Chase Field.

“There’s a lot of pride in our fan base, in how they support us and follow us, and travel. It feels a lot like a home game here a lot of times,” Buehler said. “They were definitely loud, and it was a cool moment for me.”

Dave Roberts said he planned to ride Buehler as long as he had the no-hitter going, even up to 125 pitches or so.

“Man, I wanted that no-hitter. Everyone wanted it,” Roberts said. “I think pitch count is one thing, but when you peel back a layer, it’s stress of innings. And there wasn’t any stress. He was repeating his delivery. He was locating, the stuff held, so I was going to see it through. I wanted it for him.”

Buehler has pitched at least seven innings in six starts this season, two more than anyone else in the rotation. He’s tied with Shane Bieber of the Indians for third in the majors, averaging 6.48 innings per start.

“You can tell early if it’s going to be a good day or a bad day for him,” Smith said. “But even his bad days, he gets deep in the game and doesn’t give up any runs.”

Saturday was the deepest Buehler has taken a no-hitter into a start. He also threw six no-hit innings on May 4, 2018, against the Padres in Monterrey, Mexico, teaming up with three relievers to pitch the 23rd no-hitter in Dodgers history, and the only combined no-no in franchise lore.

Buehler was backed on Saturday by a Dodgers offense that scored more runs than in their previous three games combined.

 

It took until the eighth inning in the series opener on Friday for the Dodgers to score. But they wasted very little time on Saturday. Mookie Betts doubled to open the game, his 19th of the season. Two outs later, Smith homered to right field for a quick 2-0 lead, Smith’s third home run in his last six starts.

Another two-out run came in the second thanks to a walk and two singles, the second by Gavin Lux to plate Zach McKinstry.

Smith singled to center in the third inning, then drove a ground-rule double into the pool in right-center. Three hits matched a season-high for Smith, last done on April 2 at Coors Field.

Buehler allowed zero hard-hit balls, until Ahmed’s single in the eighth inning, a 102.1-mph low liner to left. Before that David Peralta had the highest exit velocity on the night, a 94.7-mph groundout in the fifth inning that had an expected batting average of .130.

In a relative sense, Peacock allowing only three runs made him look like Arizona’s version of Cy Young. The Dodgers teed off on the Diamondbacks bullpen, with Justin Turner adding a three-run double in the sixth inning, and Chris Taylor a two-run homer in the eighth.

Eight of the Dodgers nine runs were scored with two outs.

 

Game 2 Boxscore:

 

WP: Walker Buehler (7-0)

LP: Matt Peacock (2-5)

HR: Will Smith (8), Chris Taylor (10)

 

 

Tony Gonsolin makes his third start of the season in today’s series finale against a TBD Diamondbacks starting pitcher. The first pitch is at 1:10 and can be seen on SportsNet LA.

 

 

Game 1:

 

The game’s only offense came in the eighth inning from L.A. but it was all they needed as they took down the D-Backs, 3-0.

Through seven, we had a snooze fest of a game. Well, if you like pitching then it was actually a pretty damn good game. However, both offenses couldn’t get anything going.

Steven Souza Jr. had his Dodgers moment, just a few days into his tenure. Leading off the inning, the former D-Back hit the go-ahead homer that barely went over the left field fence, giving the Dodgers the 1-0 lead.

“My tenure here wasn’t great just because of all those things,” Souza said. “So to be able to put that behind me tonight and play baseball, feel healthy, and feel great with this amazing group of guys behind me was great.”

Souza’s home run was his first as a Dodger and first at Chase Field since he slugged five with the Diamondbacks in 2018. The contact — a 105.8 mph missile in the Diamondbacks’ bullpen — was loud. His reaction — a scream towards the Dodgers’ dugout — was raw. His trot — nearly a spring after almost missing first base out of excitement — was frantic.

“I don’t think I’ve ever done that in my career, luckily I touched first. I didn’t want to pull a Ke’Bryan Hayes and miss it. The last moment that I had here wasn’t a great one,” Souza said. “So I was more fired up that I could kind of erase that and put that really in the past and celebrate this one.”

The Dodgers added two insurance runs after his homer. Gavin Lux walked and Andy Burns doubled, putting two runners on. A sacrifice fly from Mookie Betts added a run and then a balk batter later brought in another run. Those would be the only three runs on the night for L.A. As a team, they had only three hits and went 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

 

Switching things over to the pitching, Trevor Bauer was excellent yet again. He threw seven scoreless innings and allowed only three hits. Bauer had eight strikeouts on the night with 12 whiffs. Bauer’s pitch count hit 108 when Nick Ahmed hit a fly ball down the right-field line. Souza raced over and slid, leading with his left knee, to snag the ball before slamming into the wall. Bauer threw his hands in the air when he realized Souza had made the inning’s second out.

“It was spectacular,” Bauer said. “The whole time he was going over there, I was like, ‘Just stop. Don’t get hurt. Don’t get hurt.’ And he somehow managed to catch and not get hurt. Really impressive play.”

Arizona had multiple chances to put runs on the board. They had a leadoff double in the first inning but couldn’t even advance the runner. They had runners on first and second with two outs in the third but couldn’t capitalize. Runners on first and second with two outs in the fifth, but yet again, finished the inning with zero runs.

Jimmy Nelson threw a scoreless inning in the eighth and Kenley Jansen shut things down in the ninth for his 17th save of the season.

On a side note, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he expects Max Muncy and Cody Bellinger to come off the injured list sometime during the club’s upcoming three-game series against the San Diego Padres. Corey Seager could soon follow. Roberts said the plan is for the shortstop to go on rehab assignment “early next week.”

 

Game 1 Boxscore:

 

WP: Trevor Bauer (7-5)

LP: Joe Mantiply (0-2)

SV: Kenley Jansen (17)

HR: Steven Souza Jr. (1)

 

 

Walker Buehler get the start in the middle game of the series tonight against the Diamondbacks Matt Peacock. The first pitch is at 7:10 and can be seen on SportsNet LA.

 

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– Joe Arrigo

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