Steve Webb
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA — I wish this could be a happy write-up about a series win, but an incident in the 7th inning of the Dodgers’ 3-0 victory over the Royals has cast a pall over the proceeding. On a 1-2 pitch from reliever Dan Altavilla, Mookie Betts took a heater off the hand, and went down very, very hard. The hand was broken, and now he’ll be out for an indeterminate amount of time. Yuck.
But, there was a game that was played on Sunday, even though it can’t be the headline of today’s news. However, what happened on the field was really, really good for the Dodgers. Tyler Glasnow threw seven dominant innings, Shohei Ohtani hit two mammoth home runs, and Freddie Freeman pitched in with a solo shot of his own to power the Dodgers to the win.
The game was a pretty solid pitchers’ duel from the start. Brady Singer of the Royals faced off against Glasnow, and the two traded scoreless frames until the bottom of the third when there was a unicorn sighting at the Ravine. Shohei went off in a big way, absolutely demolishing a center-cut sinker to the opposite field. The ball landed way, way up the left field pavilion and the Dodgers were on the board. It was a monster 450-foot job for Ohtani and his 18th dinger of the year.
With that run in the bank, Tyler Glasnow needed nothing further. Other than a couple of singles and a walk, Glasnow was perfect the rest of the way. On 85 pitches, Glasnow completed seven scoreless innings, striking out nine batters along the way. His final line for the night: 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K. And after the pressure put on the pen the last few days, his outing allowed manager Dave Roberts to employ only Daniel Hudson and Evan Phillips to finish out the game. Everything this team needed and more.
While one run would have been sufficient in this one, Glasnow was no doubt pleased with the insurance runs provided in the bottom of the sixth. After having gone oppo earlier in the game, Shohei Ohtani decided the fans on the pull side needed a baseball as well, so he blasted his second home run of the day off Singer, drilling the first pitch of the inning into the right field seats for a solo homer. Then, Freddie Freeman got in on the act by going back-to-back with Ohtani, hitting a solo shot of his own over the fence in right field. It wasn’t a ton of offense, but Glasnow has been begging for run support all season, so he no doubt was the first to congratulate the two sluggers on their return to the dugout.
So the Dodgers win the series, but at what cost? Yamamoto went down. Betts went down. And the Dodgers will have to soldier on without two of their best players for a while. How long it takes these two guys to get back on the field will do a lot to determine what kind of season this will end up being. Luckily the Dodgers get to face the punching bags of the league, the Rockies for the rest of the week. Their next game will be on Monday, with James Paxton taking the mound against Cal Quantrill. It’s going to be a 5:40 first pitch. Hopefully, nobody else gets hurt. And Mookie and Yoshi, get well soon!
