Muncy homer the difference as bullpen shines in Dodgers win

The Dodgers and the Giants played home run derby on Thursday night at Dodger Stadium in the opening game of their series. All the evening’s runs game courtesy of the the long ball, five in total to be exact. And, thanks to a Max Muncy blast in the sixth inning, the Dodgers came out on top, 4-3.

Price gets bullpen day started

It was the fourth bullpen game that manager Dave Roberts has had to call up in the wake of the Dustin May injury on May 1 in Milwaukee. Today’s edition of bullpenning got underway with David Price on the mound. The former Cy Young winner was perfect; he threw 2.2 innings of shutout ball, retiring all eight hitters that he faced. And, his five strikeouts for the evening put him in an exclusive fraternity. His K of fellow Vandy alum Curt Casali was his 2,000 career strikeout. Dave Roberts was sure to collect the ball, which will now find a place somewhere in the Price trophy case.

Turner home run puts Dodger up early

The Dodgers got another nice two-out rally in the bottom of the third to get the scoring started. Mookie Betts ripped a triple off the right field wall and then could walk home two pitches later after Justin Turner pasted a non-sinking sinker from former teammate Alex Wood. The ball just cleared the center field fence and when Turner stepped on the plate, the Dodgers found themselves with a 2-0 lead.

Giants hit two out against the pen

When you use seven pitchers, not every one of them is going to be lights out. The Dodgers bullpen did give up a couple of long flies on Thursday, which accounted for the entire night’s offense for the San Franciscans. Evan Longoria went long off Joe Kelly in the fourth inning, and Donovan Solano hit a two-run shot in the sixth off of Victor Gonzalez, but the Dodgers relief corps only gave up one other hit on the entire night over nine innings of work. All in all, a textbook game for Mark Prior‘s staff.

DJ Peters is living the dream

Sandwiching the Solano homerun were two more dingers from the Dodgers. The first was a second milestone on the night. In a game that saw a vet like Price get his 2,000th K, it also saw local product DJ Peters get his first major league home run. The rookie outfielder hit a solo shot on a Wood slider in the bottom of the fifth. For a kid from Glendora, a first big league bop for his hometown Dodgers (in Dodger Stadium, no less) must have been a thrill and a half.

Max Muncy. (need we say more?)

The final Dodger homer of the night came of that bat of (who else?) Max Muncy. He absolutely pulverized an 0-2 pitch in the bottom of the sixth, sending it high into the Southern California night, and deep into the outfield seats. The Dodgers were back in front and would never relinquish the lead the rest of the way. Munce decided to punctuated the dinger with a pretty awesome bat flip as well. He has reason to thump his chest a bit. He has absolutely owned Giants pitching this season, homering in his third straight game against the San Francisco staff.

Treinan, Kenley shut the door hard

The final two innings of relief for the Dodgers was like a pitching coach’s wet dream. Blake Treinan was filthy in a quick 1-2-3 eighth, and Kenley Jansen continued his perfect May in the ninth with two quick strikeouts and a harmless flyball to center to end the game.

Though there were not a lot of hits at the yard tonight, they came in the extra-large size, so they were plenty for the Dodgers to win their 31st game in 50 tries this season. And, with a Padres loss in Milwaukee, they inch just a little bit closer to first place in the division. That horror-show 5-15 run is way in the rearview mirror at this point.

Looking good for the holiday weekend

Winning the bullpen game puts the Dodgers in a very enviable position with the rotation these next three games. The Giants are going to have to deal with Buehler, Urias, and Kershaw these last three games of the series. So things are looking pretty good indeed as we head into the final weekend of the month.