Steve Webb
CHICAGO, IL — Tony! Tony! Tony! Don’t look now, but our little Tony Gonsolin is rapidly becoming the biggest pitching story in baseball right now. Once again, the Cat Man was excellent, pushing his record to 7-0 with a 4-1 Dodgers win over the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Meanwhile, while the Dodgers weren’t exactly hitting the cover off the ball on Wednesday, they did get a few power strokes when needed, hitting three home runs to provide all of the offense in the Dodger victory.
Smith, Belli put Dodgers on the scoreboard early
The White Sox sent veteran (and longtime Giant) Johnny Cueto to the bump in this one, he of the herky jerky motion and deceptive stuff. And to be honest, he didn’t look half bad out there for a guy who was thought to be washed up at the beginning of the season. However, the Dodgers did get to him early, and rode that cushion for the rest of the game.
The damage started in the top of the first, when Trea Turner doinked a little bloop single into centerfield. One pitch later, cleanup hitter Will Smith took a Cueto sinker deep to left for a 397-foot home run to put the Dodgers up 2-0 and score the first LA runs of the series.
In the top of the second, Cody Bellinger jumped all over Cueto as well, drilling a 1-1 pitch way over the right field fence for a solo shot to make it 3-0. And that was more than enough runs for Gonsolin to work with.
Another quality start for Gonsolin
The homers were all well and good, but this night belonged to Tony Gonsolin as far as I’m concerned. With the Dodgers scuffling a bit and coming into the game on a three-game losing streak, it was essential that Gonsolin deliver the goods in this one.
And deliver he did. Other than a high-stress fifth inning, in which he surrendered a leadoff homerun to hot-hitting Mitch Burger, it was pretty much smooth sailing for Goose on Wednesday night. Three hits and a walk was all the damage that the Pale Hose could inflict on Gonsolin over six innings, and he left the game with another lead. Of course, the win is a stat that is much diminished, but a 7-0 record is nothing to sneeze at.
And these are not cheap wins either. Gonsolin has yet to give up more than three runs in a game, and only surrendered four home runs over eleven starts. After his performance tonight, his ERA even dropped a smidge to 1.58. We are going to have to start thinking about Tony Gonsolin differently, it seems. This seems real, and sustainable.
“I just think he’s confident in his stuff right now and it’s showing,” said center fielder Cody Bellinger after the game. “He’s just a confident dude.”
Trea puts the cherry on top in the ninth
Although three runs would have been plenty for the Dodgers in this one, Trea Turner decided to add on in the top of the ninth. His leadoff solo home run to left gave the Dodgers a 4-1 advantage, and allowed Dave Roberts to breathe a little more easily in the ninth when he brought in Daniel Hudson to close things out. Hudson is starting to get more and more reliable in these late inning roles, so if Kimbrel should ever falter, it’s nice to know there is a plan B on the roster.
Day game on Thursday to end the series
This quick three-gamer ends on Thursday with a getaway day matinee, starting at around 10:00 am PDT. Our other “unexpected ace” Tyler Anderson will be throwing against young flamethrower Dylan Cease. Then, it will be off to the City by the Bay for our first visit to Oracle Park of 2022. Hopefully, Giants fans will be too distracted by the Warriors to fill the seats, leaving plenty of room for Dodgers fans to invade.
Cans of Corn…
- Good to get a win, but need to see a better approach at the plate by the Dodger hitters.
- The herky-jerky Cueto still has a bit left in the tank. It will be interesting to see how long the guy can last in the majors.
- Yency Almonte deserves to be thought of as a first-tier guy out of the pen, until he shows us otherwise. He’s been great this year.
- Since his hitting streak was snapped on June 4, Trea has gone 5-for-11 with 2 HR.
