Steve Webb
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA — After an underwhelming trade deadline on Tuesday, Dodger fans were eager to get their first look at one of the team’s earlier acquisitions, starter Lance Lynn, traded from the White Sox at the end of July. And, to be honest, it was a very Lynn-like performance. Three home runs. A lot of strikeouts. A good deal of huffing and puffing on the mound. What wasn’t that Lynn-like was the run support and good defense that showed up in support of his start. It all added up to a 7-3 win over the Oakland A’s for the newest member of the Dodger rotation.
Now, I know what you’re saying. “The A’s are a dumpster fire. What can you judge for a start against them?” True enough, but if we get out of Lynn what we got on Tuesday night the rest of the way, it will be very good news indeed. Lynn, a noted workhorse, gave the Dodgers seven strong innings, surrendering three runs on three solo home runs in the last two frames of his outing. Other than that, pretty darn solid: 7.0 IP, 5 H 3 ER, 1 BB, 7 K.
“It’s what we needed,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts of the start. “He was a pro. Efficient. Attacking the zone. Made pitches when he needed to. It’s been quite some time since we’ve had a starter get through seven. So to go out there and use two guys tonight out of the ‘pen and feel really good about tomorrow, it’s just what we needed.”
Indeed, Dodger fans have become accustomed to seeing starters yanked after five innings or less this year, so to see a starter sail through a relatively stress-free seven innings was good news indeed.
“We won, so it was good. That’s all that matters,” Lynn said. “I made a couple mistakes that left the ballpark. But we won, so that’s all that matters.”
Offensively, a Mookie homer and another four-hit night from the incomparable Freddie Freeman led the way, but the key hit of night came in the four-run fourth inning, when Kiké Hernandez hit a bases-clearing double off of reliever Tayler Scott. It staked the Dodgers to a 4-0 lead, a lead that they would never relinquish.
And while the Dodgers were somewhat active at the trade deadline (acquiring Lynn, Hernandez, Joe Kelly, Amed Rosario, and just yesterday Ryan Yarbrough from the Royals), there wasn’t much earth-shattering this year, unlike former seasons when the likes of Scherzer and Machado came into the fold. But, this team believes that it has more than enough pieces to make a run late into October.
“We knew that this year, there was a smaller number [of options] than there typically is, for various reasons,” said Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman. “But there were a couple guys we aggressively pursued, and that’s how it goes. From our standpoint, we feel really good about the team we have and the depth we have behind it. That said, you always want to feel even better.”
“We got who we got now. We like who we have,” Freddie Freeman concurred. “So we’re ready for the next 57 games.
Let’s hope everyone is still smiling and positive in October.
