100 in the shade! Dodgers take final game to hit the century mark

PHOENIX — Usually, a 6-3 road trip that ended with the team’s 100th victory would be considered a great success, no matter the time of year. But, with the Dodgers chasing an equally hot Giants club, 6-3 just might not get it done. On this last day on the road for 2021, the Dodgers got three solo home runs and shut out the Diamondbacks to notch Julio Urias‘s 19th win of the year. But the Giants matched the Dodgers, sweeping the Rockies and maintaining their two game lead in the standing with six games remaining.

Corey and Trea go back to back!

The pitching match-up in this one was a bit one-sided. Julio Urias was going for his 19th win of the season, and D’backs starter Humberto Mejia was still in search of his first big-league victory. Early on, at least two of the Dodgers hitters were seeing exactly what they liked out of the rookie right-hander. After a Mookie Betts groundout, Corey Seager got a 1-2 fastball that he put a charge into. The ball just cleared the left centerfield fence and the Dodgers were off to an early lead.

Trea Turner, coming off a two-homer game on Saturday, decided he wanted in on the fun as well. On the next pitch from Mejia, Turner went yard himself, taking another fastball over the that same left centerfield fence. Turner is really cranking up his power numbers as the season winds down. This is his fourth long fly of the last eleven games. More of this, please.

Urias gets the outs when he needs them

It wasn’t a dominating outing from Julio Urias, but it was sufficient. The D’backs seemed to get a bunch of scratch hits off the Dodgers’ lefty, but they were all left stranded, including Urias squirming out of a bases-loaded-one-out jam in the bottom of the fourth. He wasn’t getting the swings and misses that he was used to, but kept the D’backs off the board through five innings. His final line for the day: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 3 K. He lacked that wipe-out pitch on Saturday, but got a lot of soft contact, and made the pitches he he needed to make in order to secure the victory. Urias is now 19-3 with a 3.01 ERA for the year. He’ll have one more shot to get that 20th win later this week.

Twice as nice for Seager

Corey Seager’s first home run just barely made it over the left field fence. On his second bomb of the day in the third, he had no such problem. He pulled a ball waaaay back into the right field seats, 464 feet from home plate. It was Seager’s longest home run of his career, and his 100th career dinger as well. Coincidentally, Trea Turner’s jack earlier in the game was his 100th as well. So a lot of hundreds happening today is what I’m saying.

Bullpen solid for the win

With Urias only going the five innings, it was up to the bullpen to bring the ship into port. Justin Bruihl was a little shaky, but put up a zero in the sixth. Joe Kelly and Corey Knebel were both money in the seventh and eighth. And Kenley Jansen, after giving up a leadoff single, got two strikeouts and a groundball to lock down the Dodger victory. Final score: 3-0.

100 wins, but tough road ahead

We need to stop and give Los Doyers a little love for hitting the 100-win mark once again. It’s the third time in the last five years that they’ve hit that threshold. Considering the Dodgers have done it only six other times in its entire history, its quite an accomplishment for Doc and the whole team.

However, the Dodgers are in no position to rest on their laurels, as they are still two games behind the Giants going into the final week of the season. It’s going to be a tough tow to hoe. Both teams finish the year at home but the Giants have a better schedule. The Giants have the hapless D-backs and the suddenly awful Padres, whereas the Dodgers get those same Padres before closing out the year with the playoff-bound Brewers, who just clinched the NL Central on Sunday afternoon.

You figure Arizona and San Diego have a puncher’s chance of winning one of three from the Giants, but not much more than that. So best case scenario, the Dodgers would need to win out to force a game 163. Not ideal. But who knows, maybe the D-backs will sweep the Giants. I’m getting out my rosary beads right now…