Dodgers gut out a win for ninth straight victory

LOS ANGELES — On a day that neither team could figure out how to get a hit with runners in scoring position to save its life, Saturday’s matinee against the New York Mets came down to a few key pitches. A few mistakes from good ol’ Rich Hill that allowed the Dodgers to get on the board early. And a few key pitches from Max Scherzer to wriggle out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth inning. In the end, it was a bases-loaded walk that was the difference in this one as the Dodgers posted their ninth straight win with a 4-3 victory over the Metropolitans.

Scherzer goes five for the W

Starting his fourth game in Dodger Blue (and today, it was VERY blue), Max Scherzer didn’t have his best stuff. He was missing locations with a lot of pitches and ended up going deeper in counts than he would like. And the pitches didn’t seem to be fooling Mets hitters that much. He gave up hits in four of his five innings of work, and had baserunners in all five. Still, a day of sub-par Max Scherzer is better than 90% of the pitchers in the league. Scherzer gritted it out and gave up only one run, on a home run that Brandon Nimmo clanked off the right field foul pole in the top of the fifth.

Crucial K in the top of the fifth

But the real gut check for Mad Max came after the two-out Nimmo homer. Instead of shaking it off and getting back into the dugout, Scherzer quickly found himself in a mess of trouble. Hovering at around 100 pitches, he just couldn’t come up with a put-away pitch.

He had two strikes on Jeff McNeill, before he doubled to right. He had two strikes to Pete Alonso, before he hit him with a pitch. He had two strikes to Michael Conforto, before he gave up a walk to load the bases. The inning clearly was not trending in Scherzer’s direction. But the good ones make the pitches when they need to. Scherzer watched the fifth two-out hitter step to the plate in the person of JD Davis. And this time, he found that elusive extra gear. Throwing some high gas, Scherzer got Davis to swing through a 96 mph fast ball and end the inning. And that would do it for the night for the right hander. His line for the night was unspectacular but got the job done: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 8 K.

Three solo shots put the Dodgers on the board

Meanwhile, our old buddy Rich Hill (who doesn’t like the guy? Seriously.) pitched a classic Rich Hill game. Throwing fastballs and mixing in the sloooooooooooooow curve ball to keep the Dodgers off balance, Hill navigated the lineup through five innings of his own. And, he only gave up one more hit than his mound opponent. Unfortunately for Hill, three of those hits cleared the outfield fences.

The first came from Trea Turner, and it was his first home run as a Dodger. It came in the bottom of the first inning, before Dodgers fans had even sat down with their helmet nachos. Leading off the Dodgers’ half of the inning, he took the second pitch he saw from Hill and sent it to deep left center. It just barely cleared the fence, and in fact required a booth review to confirm that it had reached the stands at all. It had, and the Dodgers were up 1-0.

Home run number two came a couple of hitters later in the same inning. Albert Pujols, who had hit his last homer off Hill fourteen years ago took the veteran lefty deep one more time. In the battle of a couple of forty-somethings, Tio Albert got the better of Hill, ripping a ball to straightaway center for the Dodgers second run of the inning.

And finally, Chris Taylor got in on the action in the fourth, when he took one of Hill’s 88 mph fastballs over the center field fence as well. At that point in the game the Dodgers were up 3-0, and even after the Nimmo homer in the fifth, it looked like the game was well in hand.

Missed opportunities in the sixth

However, when the Dodgers had a chance to blow the game wide open in the bottom of the sixth, they gacked it. The inning started off promisingly enough, with a Matt Beaty single and a couple of walks to AJ Pollock and Corey Seager. Bases loaded, nobody out. Perfect opportunity. However, after Chris Taylor walked to push home the Dodgers’ fourth run of the game, the rally completely sputtered out. Will Smith popped out. Cody Bellinger flew out to shallow right. And pinch hitter Justin Turner grounded into an inning-ending fielder’s choice.

What? Somebody got a run off Treinen?

The Dodgers would come to almost immediately regret their failure to capitalize on the opportunity. In the top of the seventh, the reliable Blake Treinen came on to face the top of the Mets’ batting order. He got the first two outs no problem, but then gave up a rare walk to Jeff McNeil. Usually a two-out baserunner is no big deal for the Dodgers’ set-up man, but not when the next guy is slugger Pete Alonso.

Treinen threw a pretty good sinker to Mets’ first baseman, but he got good wood on the ball. AJ Pollock retreated to the fence and leapt to steal the homer, but the ball eluded his outstretched glove, bounced off the top of the fence, and landed a couple rows back for a two-run homer. Suddenly the Dodgers lead was down to 4-3. It was the first time in a couple of months that Treinen has given up an earned run.

Knebel and good D gets the game to the ninth

Clinging to a one-run lead, the Dodgers’ went into the late innings needing more good stuff from the bullpen. And they got it. Corey Knebel came on in the eighth, and took care of the Mets, aided by a couple of slick plays from Corey Seager and Justin Turner. He took care of out number three all on his own, striking out Patrick Mazeika. After a scoreless eighth for the Dodgers, the game went into the ninth, and Kenley Jansen emerged from the bullpen gate, looking for another clutch save.

Let’s do this, Kenley

The inning could have started better, to be honest. Jansen plunked the leadoff hitter with his second pitch of the inning, and just like that, the tying run was on base. But Jansen said “enough” and came up with three straight outs. He got Brandon Nimmo to fly to AJ Pollock on a ball that could have been a double play, as Kevin Pillar tried to tag up from first. Pollock uncorked a good throw to second, but Trea Turner couldn’t come up with it, and Pillar slid into second safely.

Jansen might have been a little miffed by the missed opportunity because he went right after the next two hitters. He struck out Jeff McNeill on three pitches, and then got the always danger Alonso on a check swing on a pitch that was out of the zone. It was Jansen’s 27th save of the year, and it was more evidence that he’s shaken off that hiccup at the end of July. The Dodgers won this one, but with the aid of a Mets lineup that went 0-for-9 with RISP. The Dodgers themselves went 0-for-3 in that category, so I guess they were simply “less bad” on Saturday, and got the win because of it.

Series finale on Sunday

And with a Giants win up in Oakland, there was no change in the standings on Saturday. So, the Dodgers will try to wrap up this undefeated homestand on Sunday with a 1:10 game at the Stadium. David Price will get the ball and pitch against Marcus Stroman, who is the Mets’ best pitcher this season not named deGrom. Then, we renew our acquaintance with the San Diego Padres in a mid-week series down south. Somewhere in all that Mookie Betts should make his return to the lineup. Sounds like fun, eh?