Dodgers score big early, hold off late rally in 9-8 victory for sweep

PHOENIX — Since it’s Fathers’ Day, why don’t we start this post with a little advice my dear old dad used to give to me when I was a lad. “Son,” he’d say, “you’ve got to finish what you start.” This piece of advice seems lost on the 2021 version of the Dodgers. Time and time again, they’ve jumped out to big leads in the early innings only to see the lead evaporate, and leaving them to scramble to preserve a win.

Sunday’s iteration of this pattern was among the most egregious examples. After getting ahead 9-1, they let the hapless D’backs come roaring back, narrowing the gap to 9-8 with a six-run eighth inning. Closer Kenley Jansen had to come in to save what should have been an easy victory. It shouldn’t have been that hard, but it’s still a sweep for the Dodgers as they keep pace with the division-leading Giants.

Dodgers put up a five-spot in the 3rd

The Dodgers’ hitters were relentless in the early going on Sunday afternoon, scoring early and often. After two quiet innings to begin the game, the Blue Crew exploded for five runs in the top of third. After pitcher Tony Gonsolin struck out to open the frame, the Dodgers put together a string of excellent at-bats. Six straight Dodgers got on base, and before the D’backs could come up for air, the Dodgers were ahead 5-0. Justin Turner got the scoring started with an RBI single, and Steven Souza Jr. tripled home the last run of the inning, but the big blow in between was yet another Albert Pujols home run.

This one was a no-doubter to left as AP pulverized a 1-2 sinker from D-back’s starter Alex Young. It was Pujols’s sixth homer in just over 70 Dodger at-bats, which is a Babe-Ruth-like AB per HR ratio. Thanks again, Angels. Enjoy writing those checks to Albert for the rest of the year.

Pollock delivers two doubles for 3 RBI

The Dodgers kept adding on in the middle innings, they got two in the fourth on an AJ Pollock double, and two more in the fifth on an error and another AJ Pollock double. For the day, Pollock was 3-for-4 with three RBI. It was nice to see these numbers from Pollock, who’s had a bit of rough week at the office. This little payback day against his former team will hopefully get him turned in the right direction for the big series coming up later this month.

Bullpen starts out okay, but falters

With the score now 9-1 after five innings, it looked like the Dodgers were going to win easily, but here’s where the story gets interesting. Tony Gonsolin looked much better in this start, but was on a limited pitch count because of some shoulder soreness. So, he had to be lifted after only 3.2 innings of work. But with the Dodgers having such a large lead, it didn’t seem to make a lot of difference when manager Dave Roberts started opening up his bullpen to finish up the final five innings of the game. Garrett Cleavinger and David Price got through the fifth and the sixth, giving up only one additional run, and Edwin Uceta pitched a scoreless 11-pitch seventh. No problem. 9-2 going into the bottom of the eighth. What could go wrong?

Eighth inning was ugly

Well, just about everything. Roberts sent Uceta out there to pitch a second inning of relief and pretty quickly the wheels fell off the apple cart. Uceta, who had just been called up from OKC, struggled to find the strike zone in the eighth, and before he knew it, the bases were juiced with only one out on two walks and a single. Then, Josh Reddick (boo! cheater!) drilled a two-run single to left to tighten the score to 9-4. Uceta got a strikeout for the second out of the inning but then Christian Walker singled to score another run.

Roberts turned to the usually reliable Victor Gonzalez to put out the fire, but unfortunately, the lefty brought a gas can to the mound. Actually, he threw a good pitch and got a ground ball to Albert Pujols for what should have been the third out, but Gonzalez was too slow to cover the bag. And, let’s be honest Albert Pujols is not winning any foot races with anybody. The bases were loaded yet again. Gonzalez decided to add to his fielding mistake by walking in the D’backs sixth run, and the partisan Dodger crowd was starting to get mighty restless.

The restlessness turned to outright panic when Ketel Marte got his third hit of the afternoon, another two-run single. The score, believe it or not, was now 9-8. Though Gonzalez was able to get a ground ball to first to end the inning, he left the mound all kinds of disgusted with himself. Though he only would get dinged for one earned run, it was perhaps his worst performance of the year, and maybe of his career.

Kenley to the rescue

So, as has happened on more than one occasion this year, Roberts had to call on closer Kenley Jansen to put an end to all this foolishness in the bottom of the ninth. And, Jansen did just that. Using only seven pitches, the big man retired the Snakes 1-2-3 in the ninth, and the D’backs never got the ball out of the infield. The much-maligned Jansen now has 18 saves, and lowered his ERA to a nasty 1.52. It’s looking more and more like Jansen has found “it” again, and may be rewarded for his efforts with another trip to the All-Star game next month.

Big games all the rest of June

So. The Dodgers survive the comeback and the self-inflicted wounds to sweep the D-backs. In this little run of “soft” opponents in the middle of the month, they have gone 10-2. And now, the real fun begins. San Diego. Chicago. San Francisco. Nine straight games against playoff contenders in nine straight days. If the Dodgers want to make their statement and put their stamp on the season, now is the time boys. Let’s f’n go!