Buehler pitches Dodgers to eighth win in a row

LOS ANGELES — Wooboy! Good ball game at the Ravine on Friday night. Walker Buehler turned in a sharp and gritty performance, getting all the way into the eighth inning and surrendering only two earned runs. The Dodgers scored only three runs themselves, but made it hold up, especially in a thrilling eighth inning when the entire game was on the line. But the Dodger pitching came through in the clutch, and shut the door on a Mets rally. Kenley Jansen was as sharp as he’s been all season in the ninth and the Dodgers got off the field with a 3-2 win over the Mets.

Small ball scores a run in the first

Wearing their BLUE!!! City Connect uniforms for the first time, the Dodgers got out in front early on Friday. And they did it in a very similar way as on Thursday: situational hitting. In one inning, Trea Turner showed exactly why he is one of the most potent offensive threats in the game today. First, he led off with an opposite field hit that most guys would have called a single. But Turner was thinking double right out of the box and was able to slide in safely at second. Turner moved to third on a medium depth flyout to center that he was able to hustle into an extra 90 feet. Finally, on a Justin Turner ground ball, Trea was able to scamper home with Dodgers’ first run of the evening.

Muncy and Seager add on in the third

The final Dodger runs of the night came in the third inning. Trea Turner hit a one-out single. The next batter, Max Muncy, did much more than a fly out this time around. He ripped a double to right field that rolled to the wall. And Turner (Mama, there goes that man!) scored all the the way from first base without a throw.

Muncy ended up on second with a double, but he didn’t stay there long. After a Justin Turner walk, Corey Seager singled on the first pitch he saw, ripping a pitch from Mets starter Carlos Carrasco into center field for a run-scoring hit. It was 3-0 Dodgers at it looked like Carrasco was on the verge of being blown out by the Dodgers like he was on Sunday Night Baseball earlier this week.

Alonso somehow hits a home run

However, Carrasco settled down considerably. And the Dodgers would not really threaten for the rest of the game. The Mets, on the other hand, managed to score a run in the top of the fourth. Somehow, Pete Alonso managed to muscle a Buehler pitch that he was totally fooled on into the right field seats. That boy is strong.

With the score now 3-1 Carrasco and the Mets relievers kept the Dodgers hitters off balance for the rest of the night, setting up one of the more exciting innings of the season, the fateful top of the eighth inning.

Game turns in the eighth inning

With his pitch count under control, Buehler went out to try to put another nail in the Mets coffin in the eighth. However, he was beset by bad luck. First, rookie catcher Patrick Mazeika singled to right field. Okay. No biggie. Then, after a strikeout, Brandon Nimmo hit a bleeder to the third base side of the pitcher’s mound. Buehler pounced on it and threw to first, but it was hit so weakly that there was really no play on the speedy Nimmo.

Then, in Jeff McNeil‘s at-bat, Austin Barnes was unable to stop a ball in the dirt, and the runners both advance a base. Now with men on second and third, McNeil dug in for a long at bat. He fouled off several Buehler pitches and thought he had ball four on a 3-2 on the inside part of the plate. But the ball was called strike three, sending McNeil back to the dugout in the midst of a complete meltdown. This is par for the course for the struggling McNeil, who will not win any emotional maturity awards anytime soon. He may have had an argument, but you can’t take a pitch that close and leave the game in the hands of the umpire. So, sit down, Jeff.

On the next hitter, it was Buehler’s turn to be annoyed with home plate umpire Nestor Ceja. He fell behind Pete Alonso 2-0, but Alonso hit another bleeder to the left side of the infield, resulting in a second infield single that scored the Mets’ second run of the game. With two outs and a lefty coming up, Roberts went to his pen for Alex Vesia. As Buehler left the mound, he gave Ceja an earful, and got himself tossed from the game. Not that it really mattered, but he was forced to watch the rest of the ballgame on TV like the rest of us.

Epic Hold from Vesia

Vesia came into a very tight spot indeed. The tying and go-ahead runs were already on base and he was facing Michael Conforto, who has been swinging a hot bat of late. He and Conforto locked horns in a ten-pitch battle, which Conforto eventually won with a walk. Now the bases were loaded and there was no room for error. JD Davis came to the plate already with a hit in the game. However, Vesia was clutch. He pounded the strike zone and got Davis to watch as strike three zipped through the heart of the plate. Inning over. Wooboy!

Kenley delivers a dominant save

After a scoreless and nondescript bottom of the eighth, Kenley Jansen came in to shut the door on the Mets. And he was awesome. In a vintage Kenley performance, the big man sent the Mets to the showers 1-2-3, getting a medium fly ball from Dom Smith, a weak grounder to third from Jonathon Villar, and a three-pitch strikeout from the overmatched Patrick Mazeika. Good Morning. Good Afternoon. Goodnight. 3-2 Dodgers win.

Dodgers pick up one more on the Giants

And as if the night couldn’t get any better, our dear friends the Oakland Athletics defeated the Giants 4-1, cutting the distance between the two leaders in the NL West to just 1.5 games. Interesting times, indeed. The Dodgers go for their ninth straight win on Saturday in a matinee against these same Mets. Max Scherzer gets the ball for the fourth time in a Dodger jersey. He faces off against our old buddy Rich Hill, who is pitching for his third team since leaving LA. We love Rich, but sorry buddy, we have a pennant to win here. Let’s go, Dodgers!