Steve Webb
CHICAGO, IL — THWACK!! A rocket bulleted off the bat of the Cubs’ leadoff man on Walker Buehler‘s very pitch of the ballgame. It was a double off the left field wall by DH Rafael Ortega, and it led to the Cubs’ scoring in the first inning. But that was it. That was essentially the last fleeting moment of success that Cubs’ hitters had against Walker Buehler in this Mother’s Day game. After the rather rocky start, Buehler was lights out the rest of the way, pitching seven innings without surrendering another run.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers’ hitters were relentless, scoring in all sorts of unique ways, most of which didn’t even involve getting a hit. But they took good at bats all day long, and took advantage of Cub mistakes along the way. By the end of the game it was an easy 7-1 victory over the Northsiders, and a series sweep. All in all it was a very good start to the road trip.
Cubs get one in the first
That one run in the first almost didn’t have to happen, either. Yep, Buehler gave up the solid double, but he got two quick outs on strikeouts, and was one strike away from ringing up Wilson Contreras for the last out of the inning when Contreras poked a single to right for the game’s first run. It dropped a few feet in front of Mookie Betts and allowed Rafael Ortega to scamper home easily. And thus ends my summary of the Cubs scoring in this one.
It was another brilliant outing for Walker Buehler, who is very much in mid-season form. He only gave up two hits and two walks after that first inning, and the Cubs never really seemed to mount much of a rally the rest of the ball game. Buehler threw a healthy 98 pitches, landing 62 of them for strikes. It wasn’t a masterpiece, but it was plenty good. His line for the night: 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 6 K.
Dodgers do what needs to be done
This game was a classic “keep the line moving” game. Nobody had any amazing home runs or triples down the line. In fact, until Freddie Freeman‘s double in the ninth, the Dodgers hit only singles all night long. But they did the little things. They busted down the line on ground balls, they sacrificed guys home from third, they took the extra base when the defense gave it to them.
In short, they put the ball in play. And good things happen when you put the ball in play. The team had six plays that resulted in runs in this one, and only one was a hit: Cody Bellinger‘s RBI infield single in the top of the fourth. All the rest were the “small ball” kind of stuff that looked like a throwback to another era:
- A sacrifice fly from Justin Turner in the fourth
- A double play with the bases loaded that scored a run in the fifth
- A wild pitch in the same inning that scored Mookie Betts from third
- Another sacrifice fly in the seventh, this one from Freddie Freeman
- And a two-run error on a misplayed groundball in the ninth
It won’t make any end-of-season highlight reels, but these kind of old-school, grind-it-out wins do my heart good.
On to Pittsburgh
Now winners of six in a row, the Dodgers head to Pittsburgh for a series against the Pirates. They just dropped a series to the Reds, to let you know where their head is at right about now. I’m sure they’re just thrilled to be seeing the best record in baseball pull into town for the three-game set. Julio Urias will get the ball on Monday night, facing off against Jose Quintana. 3:35 PDT first pitch.
Cans of Corn
- This was Walker Buehler’s 100th career start. Through those starts, he’s 44-13. Only Whitey Ford has a better winning percentage over that number of starts at the beginning of a career.
- Freeman, Lux, and Betts all had multi-hit games, and Cody Bellinger topped them all with a three-hit night.
- Somehow, Will Smith forgot how to throw the ball back to the pitcher in the first inning for a second. It was, um, interesting.
- Buehler now joins Urias and Kershaw, and Gonsolin as having sub-2.00 ERA’s. I know hitting is off this year, but that is good.
- Cubs rookie Seiya Suzuki of Japan got a lot of attention from the ESPN crew tonight. I think they’re trying to turn him into the next Ohtani. We’ll see how that goes.
- Robbie Erlin made his Dodger debut, pitching a scoreless ninth to finish the ballgame. It was his first big league appearance since September 2020.
- To make room for Erlin on the roster, Justin Briuhl was optioned to OKC.
- Get used to no Blake Treinen until at least after the All-Star break. Shoulder problem is much worse than originally thought.
- Happy Mother’s Day, everyone!
