Jim Cella
ARIZONA—A late flight from Houston, and early a.m. bed time, didn’t slow down the Dodgers’ momentum from their sweep in Houston as they jumped on Arizona in the very first at-bat, never trailed in the series opener and cruised past the Diamondbacks 6-3. AJ Pollock, Corey Seager and Max Muncy all hit home runs and starting pitcher Ross Stripling was good enough to give Los Angeles their first 3-game win streak of the year. The Dodgers are now 5-2 and are now in second place in the NL West standings.
GAME RECAP: Pollock gave the Dodgers a 3-0 lead in the first inning when he belted a 1-1 fastball over the left field fence with two outs in the frame. Pollock’s first long ball of the year plated Betts and Muncy who started the game with a walk and an infield single. Seager would push the lead to 4-0 in the second inning when he hit the longest Dodger homer of the year. His 421-foot bomb came on a 1-1 slider and was his second in as many games. Arizona would get on the board in the third when Ketel Marte went deep for his first HR of the year. Los Angles would tack on single runs in the fifth and sixth innings before Arizona added a pair in the bottom of the sixth to bring the final count to 6-3.
GAME HIGHLIGHTS:
THREE AMIGOS: The Dodgers have won three straight which is the longest victory streak of the year. Los Angeles won at least three straight games on 16 different occasions last year with their longest win streak being of the 7-game variety.
SERIES STUFF: Los Angeles leads the overall series with the D-backs 214-178. Last year the Dodgers held an 11-8 edge over AZ but were just 4-6 in games in the desert.
INNING EATER: Stripling earned his second win of the season but it was his ability to rack up at least 5.0 innings for his second straight start which was the biggest success for the Dodgers. With several LA relievers down because of innings pitched in the last two games, Stripling went 5.1 innings which led to the Dodgers needing to only use four relievers. Stripling retired seven of the first nine batters he faced before giving up the 1-out long ball to Marte in the third. He then got seven of the next eight batters before running into trouble at the start of the sixth. He beaned Starling Marte to lead off the sixth and then gave up a double to Christian Walker which scored Marte and finished off the night for Stripling. Stripling is now 2-0 on the year with a 2.92 ERA in 12.1 innings pitched.
HE SAID IT: “I thought I held my stuff longer than I did last time out. I was able to keep my strength throughout the outing.” — Ross Stripling on the difference between his first and second starts.
YOU’LL GET NOTHING AND LIKE IT: The Dodgers’ bullpen put another bagel on the board in their 3.2 innings of work on Thursday. Adam Kolarek, Joe Kelly, Brusdar Graterol and Pedro Baez gave up only one hit and put down 10 of the last 11 batters they faced in the game. The only blemish was a 2-out walk in the ninth by Baez who then finished off the game by getting Nick Ahmed to pop up to short.
The Blue Pen has now pitched 35.3 innings this year and has a 1.02 ERA. Opposing batters are hitting a miniscule .138 and they have a tiny .386 OPS. Let those numbers sink in and then look forward to the final 53 games of the regular season with the best pen in the business.
TURNING UP THE POWER: After being held without a home run in two straight games, the Dodgers have now gone yard five times in the past two games. They have nine HRs on the year which is tied for third most in the NL. Last year the Dodgers had 18 homers after their first seven games.
WE’RE WALKING HERE: Los Angeles earned eight walks in the series opener. It is the second time in 2020 they have recorded eight free passes in a game. They also had eight in Game 2 against the Giants. The Dodgers have had at least three walks in six of the seven games and have 35 for the year which is tied for second in MLB. The Padres lead the league with 37.
HE SAID IT 2: “My gosh, our lineup is so stacked.” — Ross Stripling when asked about being able to pitch with the Dodgers’ offense backing him up.
DEFO: The catcher’s spot in the offense has struggled in the first seven games for LA. Will Smith got the call on Thursday and went 0-for-2 with a pair of walks. Smith and Austin Barnes are now hitting a combined .130 (3-for-23) on the year.
TRENDING UP: AJ Pollock is now 8-for-17 (.471) in his five games on the year after sitting out the entire summer camp due to the premature birth of his baby girl. Pollock is 6-for-11 (.545) in his last three games.
HE SAID IT 3: “Really, if you are up there and feeling good that is the No.1. In some ways it got me to think to just keep it simple. It’s like a pick-up game in basketball…just go out and compete.” —AJ Pollock on his success in the first seven games after not having any practice time during summer camp.
TRENDING DOWN: After doing his best Usain Bolt impression out of the starting block, Justin Turner has fallen on hard times in the last three games. He is 1-for-11 (.091) in the three road games which has dropped his season average to .308.
ON DECK: The Cat Man gets the call on the bump for the Dodgers in the second game of the series on Friday. Tony Gonsolin will make his first start of the season as he fills in for Alex Wood who was put on the IL. Gonsolin was 4-2 with a 2.93 ERA in his 11 appearances and 40.0 innings pitched last year. He made two starts against the Diamondbacks in 2019 and went 0-1 with a 6.00 ERA. His major league debut came on June 26 in Arizona when he started and lasted only 4.0 innings. Right hander Zac Gallen is expected to start for the D-backs. He had a no decision in his first start of the year when he pitched 4.0 innings at San Diego. Gallen, who is in his second career season, owns a 2.79 ERA in his 16 MLB starts. Gallen has started against the Dodgers in two games and has a .348 ERA in 10.1 IP. He has given up eight hits and struck out 11 in those two games.
