Steve Webb
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA — We’ll take it. It wasn’t exactly an offensive explosion, but it’s a W. Tony Gonsolin continued his dominance on Tuesday night, pitching 6.1 innings of shutout ball. And in a very welcome sign, Mookie Betts smacked a solo home run for a little much needed insurance late in the ball game, and the Dodgers held on in wild ninth inning for a 2-0 win.
Gonsolin and Syndergaard bring their A-games
For the first time through the batting order, it was nothing but zeroes on the scoreboard. Noah Syndergaard was the Angel starter in this one, and for a while at least, he looked like the Thor of old. He mowed through the Dodgers in the first three innings, using a handful of pitches to do so. But Tony Gonsolin was just as good. Other than a single to Shohei Ohtani, Gonsolin was near perfect. It was a quick first third of the game.
A walk in the park in the fourth
Somehow, after dealing for three innings, Syndergaard lost the plate in the fourth. Three Dodger walks and an infield single from Trea Turner added up to the first run of the ball game. The key walk was from Justin Turner, who watched a 3-2 pitch sail wide to “drive” in Freddie Freeman, who had led off the inning with a walk.
Unfortunately, that was as much as they would get in the inning, as Cody Bellinger struck out with the bases loaded to end the inning.
Bellinger’s K was the first in more futility with runners in scoring position. After being horrible in that stat in San Francisco, the Dodgers were 0-for-6 with RISP on Tuesday. That’s going to need to change.
Gonsolin shines into the 7th
But this was a night about Tony Gonsolin. Again, he was brilliant, further padding his All Star Game resume. He pounded the zone, and was really unchallenged the entire game. Other than the Ohtani single in the 4th inning, he only gave up two walks in his entire outing, and sailed through the Angels’ star-studded lineup. His line for the evening: 6.1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 6 K.
Betts hits solo shot for insurance
Good as Gonsolin was, the game went into the late innings with the Dodgers clinging to a 1-0 lead. However, with hard-hitting left hander Jared Walsh up second in the seventh inning, skipper Dave Roberts lifted Gonsolin with one out in favor of Caleb Ferguson. Ferguson’s control was much better in this one and got out of the inning with another zero on the scoreboard.
In the bottom of the 8th, the Dodgers finally found a little breathing room. After Gavin Lux lined out sharply to right for the first out, the lineup turned over and Mookie Betts stepped up to the plate. And, in the most welcome sign of the evening, he blasted a 1-2 pitch to deep left field for a solo home run. It’s been a minute since Betts went yard, this being his first homer since June 1. This after hitting 12 in May. It’s a bit early to declare the slump over, but thank you, Mookie. More of this, please.
A broken bat, a long delay, and a thrilling end
The ninth inning is what we’ve come to expect out of closer Craig Kimbrel: high drama. After leadoff hitter Taylor Ward struck out on a nasty pitch out of the zone, up came the three-time MVP Mike Trout. And to be honest, Kimbrel made the pitch he wanted to, shattering Trout’s bat on 3-2 fastball. However, the ball found a seam between Gavin Lux and Cody Bellinger and dropped in for a single.
However, more importantly at the moment, Trout’s shattered bat whipped behind his head and a shard of it got inside home plate umpire Nate Tomlinson’s mask. The sharp wood hit Tomlinson up around the eyes, and he immediately fell to his knees in pain. Almost immediately, it became clear that Tomlinson wouldn’t be able to continue.
So, while ump Laz Diaz ran into the clubhouse to put on the gear to call balls and strikes, everybody just had to stand around and wait. Not great for Craig Kimbrel, who is not used to long pauses in the middle of his labors. In fact, as soon as play finally resumed, it was apparent that Kimbrel lost his mojo a bit. He gave up a single to Shohei Ohtani on the first pitch after the delay, and then walked Matt Duffy to load the bases.
So yeah, things were getting a little intense in this inning. Luckily, Kimbrel got the benefit of a couple of generous calls from Laz Diaz to strike out both Jared Walsh and Max Stassi to end the game and preserve the win.
One more with the Halos on Wednesday
Now in a flat-footed tie atop the NL West with the Padres, the Dodgers will face the Angels once again to end the first installment of the Freeway Series for 2022. It’ll be Tyler Anderson vs. Reid Detmers in the final game of the series, as the Dodgers try to build on the win in this one. So next time, maybe we can get a hit with somebody on base? Puh-leeeeeease?
Cans of Corn…
- Gonsolin now has the third lowest ERA through 12 starts of any Dodger ever. Wow.
- Chris Taylor being stranded at third after getting there with nobody out is just about the size of the Dodgers’ struggles with RISP this year.
- Gonsolin had a funny moment when he lost track of the number of outs and started to run off the field with only two out in the third.
- Kimbrel wasn’t great, but that broken bat and long delay would have been hard for anybody.
- Daniel Hudson looked great in a 1-2-3 8th inning.
