Jim Cella
LOS ANGELES—Make it a 1-2 combination of 11-strikeout starting pitchers. Not wanting to be outdone by teammate Clayton Kershaw’s 11-strikout victory on Thursday, Walker Buehler fanned 11 and earned the win in the Dodgers’ 5-1 victory over Colorado on Friday. Buehler retired the first 11 batters he faced, allowed only four hits and one run in his best outing of the year.
The win is the Dodger’s ninth in their last 10 games and they become the first MLB team to reach the 20-win mark. LA is now 20-8 in 2020. The Rockies, who started the year with an 11-3 mark, lose for the fifth straight game and the eighth in the last 10, and plummet to 13-13 on the season.
GAME RECAP: Bueller was locked in from the very first batter. His fastballs were checking in just below 99 mph and he was able to spot his off-speed pitches for strikes. He needed eight pitches to get leadoff batter Raimel Tapia but then threw only 18 pitches to get the next five outs. Buehler carried a perfect game into the fourth inning before Charlie Blackmon singled on an 0-1 sinker that broke up the perfecto and the no-no.
Los Angeles got single runs in the first and sixth and broke the game open with a trio in the fourth. Joc Pederson, hitting in the leadoff spot for the since Aug. 12, started the game by fouling off three straight pitches before hitting the gap in right-center for a double. Justin Turner would single Pederson to third and then Cody Bellinger picked up the game’s first RBI with a double into the left-center gap.
The Dodgers continued to “nickel-and-dime” Rockies’ starter Jon Gray in the fourth. AJ Pollock led off with a double to left and came home when Matt Beaty singled to right on a 3-1 pitch. Chris Taylor followed with the first of his two hits on the night – a single to right which sent Beaty to second. After Austin Barnes and Pederson popped out, Corey Seager came through with another clutch double. He pulled a changeup down the right field line that scored both Beaty and Turner which gave Buehler, and the Dodgers, a 4-run cushion.
Colorado scored their only run of the game in the sixth on three consecutive 2-out singles from the 9-1-2 batters in the order. Former Dodger Drew Butera started the run-scoring trio when he blooped a single to right. Tapia connected on an 0-1 fastball for the second single and then Trevor Story fought off a 2-2 fastball and muscled it into shallow right to score the Rockies only run of the game.
The Dodgers quickly returned the favor in the bottom of the inning when Taylor led off with a double off the left-center field wall. He moved to third on a wild pitch on the next at-bat and scored on a sacrifice fly when Barnes hit a long fly to left.
Los Angeles’ bullpen finished off the game by retiring all nine Rockies’ batters after the sixth inning. Adam Kolarek, Caleb Ferguson and Kenley Jansen combined to pitch a perfect 3.0 innings and struck out a pair.
RAKING THE ROX: The win continues the Dodgers’ domination over Colorado which started last season. LA has now beaten the Rox eight times in the last nine match-ups between the NL West rivals. They were 15-4 overall against Colorado in 2019 which included an 8-1 mark at Dodger Stadium.
OBSCURE STATS OF THE NIGHT: The Dodgers are now 5-4 when Pederson bats in the leadoff spot. They are also 4-1 when Pederson gets the start in right field which he did on Friday because of the rest day given to Mookie Betts.
BUETANE REIGNITED: Buehler looked like the 2019 version of Walker Buetane when he went 14-4 and struck out 215 in 182.1 innings pitched. He relied on his explosive fastball, which he threw almost 75-percent of the time, but also had command of his curve and cutter which crossed up the Rockies’ hitters as nine of his 11 Ks were of the swinging variety. His 6.0 innings and 92 pitches were both season highs as he started to get into his “usual” regular-season form after taking four starts to go through an “unconventional” spring training. Buehler recorded four double-digit strikeout games last year and LA was 4-0 in those games.
HE SAID IT: “With Walker he’s such a finely tuned machine that to get to that optimum performance level there are certain things he’s got to get to and I just felt that each outing it was getting better and this one he seemed like he was primed. I just see it kinda holding from here.”—Dodgers manager Dave Roberts when talking to Alanna Rizzo about Walker Buehler’s performance.
HE SAID IT: “He was commanding all his pitches. There was a little uptick in his velocity today. His fast ball was up there and he was locating his cutter too. It was a good day for Walker. He was electric. That’s what we’re used to seeing.”—Matt Beaty when talking to Alanna Rizzo about Walker Buehler’s performance.
K COUNTER: The 11 strikeouts moves Buehler’s season total to 28 which is one behind Kershaw for the team lead.
KEEP THE TOTALS MOVING: The five runs on Friday add to LA’s MLB-leading run total. They have scored 156 runs on the year (5.57/game) which is 10 better than Tampa Bay. Last year LA was fourth in the majors in runs scored with 886 (5.47/game). The Dodgers also added to their league-best run differential. They have scored 70 more runs than their opponents in 2020. The next best mark is a +34 held by the overrated Minnesota Twins.
NO WOW, BUT NO WEAK SPOTS: Los Angeles didn’t have a home run in the series opener but wound up outhitting Colorado 10-4 in the game. It is only the sixth time all season they haven’t left the yard. The good news is that the Dodgers had eight of their nine starters in the lineup collect at least one hit with Bellinger and Taylor posting the only 2-hit games.
HE SAID IT 2: “I thought one through nine we just took good at-bats all night long.”—Roberts to Alanna Rizzo on the balance of the Dodger’s offense on Friday,
DOUBLE-DIGIT PERFECTION: The Dodgers are now 9-0 when they have at least 10 hits in a game in 2020.
BARNES COMES BACK TO EARTH: Barnes had his 8-game hitting streak come to an end in the opener. He was the only LA starter without a base knock and went 0-3. The 0-fer dropped his season average to .288 which is third on the team behind Betts and Seager who are both at .294.
BACK-TO-BACK BELLI MULTIS: Bellinger was 2-for-3 for the second straight game. It was only the second time all season he has put up back-to-back multiple-hit games. Bellinger’s two base knocks pushed his season average over the .200 mark for the first time since July 28. He is now hitting .206 for the year. While that’s not great news, his recent form is. He is now showing signs of 2019 in the last eight games where he is batting .321 (9-for-28) with four homers and eight RBI.
STILL THE BEST, BETTER THAN ALL THE REST: The Dodger Blue Pen continues to be the best in MLB. They posted another scoreless outing on Friday which dropped their season ERA to 1.80. They also didn’t allow a hit which lowered the opponent’s batting average mark to .182.
STAFF STEPS UP TO NO.1: The entire Dodger pitching staff is now the best in MLB. They moved into the top spot after only allowing one run against Colorado. LA owns a 2.66 ERA which overtook Cleveland who jumped to 2.79 after giving up 10 runs to Detroit on Friday. LA is also tops in the NL in WHIP (1.04) and tied for the top spot in the NL in opponent’s batting average (.205).
ON DECK: Dustin May will get the ball on Saturday to see if he can continue the Dodger’s double-digit strikeout performance streak. Los Angeles will host Colorado in Game 2 of the series at 6:10 p.m. May is 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA this season and is coming off a 4.1-inning, 2-earned run, no decision against the Angels. May has only pitched 1.0 inning – and didn’t allow a hit – against the Rockies. The lone appearance came in relief on Sept. 22 of last year. May will square off against lefty Kyle Freeland who has been one of the top starters for the Rox this year. He is 2-1 with a 2.56 ERA and a 1.110 WHIP. Freeland has faced the Dodgers 10 times in his three MLB seasons. He is 2-4 with a 4.26 ERA and a 1.539 WHIP in those games. He has made five starts at Dodger Stadium and is 0-2 with a 3.96 ERA and a 1.680 WHIP in those contests.
