Roger Arrieta
ARLINGTON—Los Angeles capped its record-breaking month of August by slugging three home runs and ran away from Texas. The trio of long balls pushed the Dodgers’ total to 57 in August which breaks the National League record for homers in a single month. The 7-2 victory also keeps Los Angeles’ series streak alive to start 2020. LA hasn’t lost a series in their first 12 of the season.
Corey Seager, Will Smith and Cody Bellinger all smacked HRs to lift the Dodgers to their 26th win of the year. The trio of yard shots helped eclipse the old NL record for homers in a month which was set by Atlanta in June of last year. LA has now won 13 of its last 15 games and upped its season record to 26-10. They continue to hold a 5-game lead over San Diego in the NL West.
GAME RECAP: Los Angeles bolted to a 4-0 lead by scoring in each of the first three innings. Seager went yard in the first inning to stake the Dodgers to a 1-0 lead. The 427-foot shot was his ninth of the year. Smith doubled the lead in the second when he hammered a 2-1 sinker that landed 439 feet from home plate way up in the left-field bleachers. His HR gave the Dodgers 56 for the month which tied the mark held by the Braves. Bellinger would break the monthly mark one inning later when he cranked a 2-run homer to right field that scored Max Muncy.
The Rangers (12-21) finally got on the board in the bottom of the third when they loaded the bases and Leody Taveras scored on a wild pitch from starter Tony Gonsolin. Gonsolin would then walk Nick Solak to load the bases for the second time. He worked out of the no-out, bases loaded jam by getting a pop out, strike out and getting Adam Frazier strikeout when he chased a slider on the 11th pitch of the at-bat.
The teams traded runs in the fourth before Los Angeles recorded two unanswered runs in the sixth and eighth to bring the final score to 7-2. Smith scored the Dodgers’ lone run in the fourth when he earned a 2-out walk and went to third on an AJ Pollock single up the middle. Mookie Betts’s line drive off of Texas starter Kyle Gibson’s glove caromed into right-center field and allowed Smith to score which gave LA their second 4-run lead at 5-1. The Rangers would trim the margin back to three in the bottom of the inning. Isiah Kiner-Falefa reached on an infield single and advanced to third on a 1-out “Baltimore Chop” special from Taveras that bounced high over the head of Bellinger at first base. Taveras scored Texas’ final run of the game when he came home on a sacrifice fly from veteran catcher Jeff Mathis.
The Dodgers completed the TD score in the sixth. Betts brought home Chris Taylor with a sacrifice fly after Taylor walked to lead off the inning and gained third on a double by Gavin Lux. LA tacked on the extra point in the eighth. Smith scored his third run of the game when he walked, went to third on Betts’ line drive single to center field and scored on scored on Seager’s rope single to right.
GAME HIGHLIGHTS:
HE SAID IT: “It’s a by-product of swinging at good pitches. It’s amazing to see the talent we have in our lineup. Just up and down 1-9 we can beat you.”—Dodgers’ manager Dave Roberts on breaking the monthly home run record and the success of the team.
SERIES STREAK STUFF: The Dodgers are now 9-0-3 in series in 2020. The streak of 12 unbeaten series to start a season is tied for the fifth longest in MLB history. The record is held by Cinicinnati when they went they didn’t lose in the first 17 series of 1990. The 12-series unbeaten string isn’t the longest in club history. The 1977 Boys in Blue went 14 series before their first loss. LA started 1977 by splitting with the Giants. They proceeded to win series against Atlanta, San Francisco, Cincinnati, the Braves, San Diego, Montreal and the Mets. They finished off the streak with split against the Phillies, beat the Expos and Mets again, beat Philadelphia, split with Pittsburgh and beat Houston. They finally fell against the Reds at the end of May.
INTERLEAGUE ACES: The two wins against Texas brings the Dodgers’ record against AL teams to 10-2 on the season. The 10 interleague wins is the most of any team in the majors. The Twins and Yankees both have nine wins against NL teams.
GREY SHIRT GOODNESS: The Dodgers also lead MLB in road wins. LA is now 15-5 away from Chavez Ravine. The Marlins are No.2 with 13 victories on the road.
OBSCURE STATS OF THE DAY: The Dodgers have now won 11 consecutive “last game of a series” games. LA is now 11-1 in the last game of the series. Their only loss on “getaway day” came in the very first series against the Giants. The Dodgers also outhit Texas 11-7 on Sunday and are now 12-1 when they post a double-digit hit total.
SCORELESS STREAK IS GONE-SO-LIN: Gonsolin had his streak of not allowing a run end in the third when he gave up a pair of singles and a walk to start the inning and then threw a wild pitch that scored Taveras from third. His impressive scoreless streak to start the year reached 16.2 innings. Gonsolin’s day was through after the taxing third inning when he faced seven batters and threw 39 pitches. The 3.0 innings was his shortest outing of the year. Gonsolin allowed three hits, walked three and still hasn’t posted a decision in his four starts on the year. Despite the fact that he finally gave up a run, he still leads all LA starters with a 0.51 ERA and a 0.790 WHIP.
MOMENTOUS MOMENT: The third inning proved to be the pivotal point in the game. The Dodgers took a 4-0 lead in the top of the frame and it looked like Texas would severely eat into the margin when they loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the inning. The outcome looked even bleaker for LA when Taveras scored on a wild pitch and Gonsolin walked Solak. The key to the win came against the No. 3, No.4 and No.5 hitters in the order. Gonsolin got Jose Trevino to pop into an infield fly on a 1-2, off-speed pitch. He then struck out Joey Gallo on six pitches and battled through the epic 11-pitch at-bat against Frazier which he finally won on a slider. Dodgers’ manager Dave Roberts, and the entire team, were pumped up from Gonsolin’s escape act and used that momentum to cruise to the 5-run win.
HE SAID IT 2: “It definitely felt like the inning was never going to end…I knew I had two outs and was one pitch away from getting out of the inning. I just went out and tried to compete…I probably felt the best out of the whole outing in that at-bat. The adrenaline and will to compete kicked in there.”—Tony Gonsolin on the third inning and the 11-pitch at-bat against Todd Frazier.
HE SAID IT 3: “He could have come out a little more aggressive. He just didn’t have the command of the split change…that Frazier at-bat is one of the best pitcher-hitter battles I’ve seen all year long…to get out of that inning – he grew a lot today.”—Roberts on Gonsolin’s outing and getting out of the third inning.
PITCHING PACKS A PUNCH: Los Angeles continues to lead MLB in ERA. The Dodgers’ staff has fashioned a nifty 2.76 ERA over the first 36 games of the year. Last year the Dodgers led the majors with a 3.37 team ERA.
ALEXANDER THE GREAT: Scott Alexander pitched in the sixth and seventh innings, went a total of 1.1 scoreless innings and picked up his second win of the season. Alexander also lowered his season ERA to 1.54 and has only allowed an earned run in two of his 12 appearances in 2020.
RISP TABLE IS TURNED: One of the keys to the wins in the final two games against the Rangers was the ability of the LA pitchers to get out of trouble. The five Dodgers’ pitchers didn’t allow a hit with runners in scoring position on Sunday as Texas went 0-for-6. It was the second straight game that Texas was 0-for-6 with RISP. They finished the three games by hitting .182 (4-for-22) with runners on second or third.
RAD RISP: The Dodgers’ staff continues to lead MLB when pitching with runners in scoring position. Opposing batters are only hitting .181 when they have the ability to score runners from second or third.
DID I HEAR A NINER?: Seager’s blast in the first was his ninth of the year. The Dodgers have four players with at least nine long balls on the year (Muncy – 9, Bellinger – 10, Betts – 11). To put that into perspective, there are only 13 players in the NL that have nine dingers on the year – and LA Long Ball has four.
LA LONG BALL: The 57 homers in August pushed the Dodgers season total to 68. That leads the “media darling” Padres by two for the MLB lead.
I WALK THE LINE: The Dodgers coaxed six walks and added an HBP on Sunday. They cashed in on three of those free passes. LA had seven walks on Saturday and came away with 16 free passes in the series. The Dodgers have earned at least six walks on seven occasions in 2020 and are 7-0 in those games.
FANNING THE RING OF FIRE: Unfortunately for the Dodgers they also struck out 14 times. It was the second highest K total of the year (15 vs. Arizona on July 31) and the third straight game they fanned at least 11 times. LA finished the weekend series by striking out 36 times and has now struck out 288 (8.0/game) times on the year which is 17th most in MLB.
ON DECK: The Dodgers will have an off day on Monday as they watch the social media feeds on Trade Deadline Day. LA will return to play for the first time in September when they begin a 3-game series against Arizona at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday. The 3-game series starts a string of nine straight games against NL West opponents.
Julio Urías and Clayton Kershaw will get the starts in the first two games against the Diamondbacks with the starter in the finale set to be announced later in the week. Arizona has only posted their starter in the first game. Alex Young is slated to face Urías in a battle of southpaws. Young started the year in the bullpen but moved to the starting rotation in the middle of August. He is 1-1 with a 4.70 ERA and a 1.174 WHIP in his 10 appearances in 2020. Young is 0-1 with a 4.72 ERA and a 1.200 WHIP in his three starts.
