Dodgers win seventh straight with another brilliant bullpen game

LOS ANGELES — Are you feeling it yet? Are you feeling the Dodgers as they start to make their late-season move? Cuz it’s happening, friends and neighbors. The Dodgers threw seven pitchers at the Mets on Thursday night, and they couldn’t hit any of them. The Dodger pen gave up just one earned run and the boys in blue got some clutch situational hitting to push four runs across for a 4-1 win over New York. It was the seventh straight victory from the Dodgers, and they now trail idle San Francisco by just two and half games.

Knebel leads off bullpen game

With the Dodgers down to three true starters in their rotation, skipper Dave Roberts had to rely on the pen again for yet another night. This time, he gave Corey Knebel the ball to start the game. This began a string of seven pitchers to toe the rubber for the home team in the series opener and once again, the pen stepped up and got the job done. The only blemish on an otherwise perfect night came in the top of the fourth, when newcomer Evan Phillips gave up a run on a Pete Alonso single and a run-scoring double from JD Davis. Otherwise, nothing but zeroes on the scoreboard.

On Thursday, the pitchers who did the honors were Knebel, Phillips, Victor Gonzalez (back from the IL), Phil Bickford, Brusdar Graterol, Alex Vesia, and Blake Treinen. Together, this “magnificent seven” scattered six hits over the course of the ballgame and only surrendered the one earned run in the fourth. In the last twelve games the Dodgers’ depleted staff has a 2.00 ERA. Not too shabby at all.

Dodgers get two runs with situational hitting

The Dodgers didn’t exactly rip the cover off the ball in this first game of the series, but Mets starter Taijuan Walker bent just enough for the Dodgers to push four runs across the plate. They got a pair of runs early in the bottom of the second. Corey Seager led off the inning with a walk. He quickly moved to third on a Will Smith double. With men on second and third and nobody out, the Dodgers got a couple of productive groundouts from AJ Pollock and Chris Taylor to score both Seager and Smith without the ball leaving the infield.

McKinney and Trea tack on

The Dodgers were able to expand their lead in the bottom of the fifth with a couple of solid two-out RBI from Billy McKinney off the bench and Trea Turner. With one out, Chris Taylor got aboard with an infield single to third and advanced to second on an ill-advised throw from third baseman JD Davis. He moved to third on a very close play at first with Cody Bellinger just missing out on an infield hit.

Now with two out and a man on third, Billy McKinney was sent to the plate in the pitcher’s spot. And, as he’s been doing lately, McKinney came up with another nice extra-base hit. He ripped a four-seamer from Walker into the gap in left center and Taylor scored easily from second to put the Dodgers up by two.

Trea Turner continue the fun in the very next at-bat when he sneaked a ground ball through the opposite way, which sent McKinney around third and all the way home with the Dodgers’ final run of the night.

Treinen. Filthy.

Leading 4-2, the Dodgers sat back and let the bullpen do its thing. And we can’t let the game go by without a shout-out to Blake Treinen, who finished out the game for the Dodgers with a 1-2-3 ninth inning. It was Treinen’s fourth save of 2021, but more importantly, it was his 23rd consecutive scoreless outing, lowering his ERA in the last thirty appearance to a ridiculous 0.85. And he’s not even the closer, ladies and gentlemen.

Giants’ lead cut in half

Coming into this week, the Dodgers were five games behind the Giants. As they go to bed on Thursday night, they now trail by 2 1/2 games. The Dodgers are back at it against the Mets on Friday and Saturday with Buehler and Scherzer. To quote Toomgis, the AM/PM monster, “too much good stuff!” Here we go!