Mitch White pitches a gem, Dodger bats go off in sweep of Bucs

LOS ANGELES — Make no mistake. Your Los Angeles Dodgers are rolling. They manhandled the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday night, riding four home runs and a great pitching performance from Mitch White to an easy 9-0 blowout victory. Couple that with the Giants’ loss in extras to the Mets earlier in the day, and the Dodgers are now three games out of first place with six weeks to go in this increasingly exciting pennant race.

Max Muncy goes oppo in the first

With the Giants’ score already a final at first pitch, the Dodgers entered the game with a great opportunity to move up in the standings. And they wasted little time getting on the board. In the home half of the first inning, AJ Pollock, hitting leadoff for the first time in a while, led off with a single to center field. Then, Max Muncy, who has gotten seriously hot of late, came up hitting in the two hole. Muncy ripped a 2-1 sinker from starter JT Brubaker to the opposite field. The ball cleared the left centerfield fence for Max’s 27th homer of the season. Two batters into the game, and the Dodgers had all the runs they would need for the rest of the night.

However, the Dodgers weren’t even close to being done scoring runs. Justin Turner, the very next hitter in the inning, smoked a double down the third base line. Next man up, Corey Seager made sure that Turner’s stay on second base was a short one, as he ripped the first pitch he saw into right field for a run-scoring single. Though the scoring stopped there, the inning ended with the Dodgers in the lead 3-0.

Bruihl opens, gives way to White

Dodger opener Justin Bruihl did his job, pitching 1.2 innings of scoreless ball. In what looked like a scripted pitching change, he was lifted with the bases empty and two out in the top of the second. Mitch White came into the game, and pitched the best game he has ever had at the big-league level. He rode a good-looking curveball for inning after inning, and ended up going 7.1 innings of scoreless baseball. He struck out six and walked only two, giving up a pair of singles along the way.

And with the way skipper Dave Roberts has been using his overtaxed bullpen lately, it was just what the doctor ordered. It was always meant to be a bulk outing for White, but it ended up being the longest relief appearance by a Dodger pitcher in nearly thirty years.

Lots of hitting heroes at the top of the batting order

While White was keeping the Pirates at bay, the Dodgers added on another six runs after that three-run first. AJ Pollock went 3-for-5 with a second inning solo home run to raise his batting average to a blistering .309. Justin Turner was 2-for-2 with a walk. And Max Muncy, bless his heart, is completely on fire. He went 2-for-3 with two home runs and five RBI. His fourth inning three-run shot put the Dodgers in the driver’s seat with a 7-0 lead.

And though it was completely superfluous, Corey Seager, who went 2-for-5 on Wednesday, decided to cap the scoring with a two-run homer of his own, going to the opposite field in the sixth to put up the Dodgers’ final runs of the night. Seager is now hitting .333 since his return from the IL.

White finishes up on his own

With a big lead and a pitcher with a hot hand, the Dodgers called on Mitch White to bring home the win. And he did just that. He pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning and ended up the game with only 91 pitches over 7.1 innings. With his family in the stands, it is not likely a night that he will soon forget.

Three games out, forty-one to go

It’s starting to feel like the Dodgers are finally clicking, winning the tight ones when they have to and pounding the ball when the opportunity presents itself. They are riding two consecutive sweeps into a four-game weekend series with our old buddies the New York Mets. The Giants have no picnic on their hands, as they travel across the bay to face the Athletics on Friday, who are in a dogfight of their own for a playoff spot. No rest for the Dodgers, as they get right back at it with another bullpen game on Thursday night.