Steve Webb
SAN FRANCISCO, CA — We all know that Albert Pujols is “the” Machine, but the Los Angeles Dodgers are certainly “a” machine. Riding yet another impressive start from Julio Urias, the Dodgers’ bats pounced all over the San Francisco relievers on their “bullpen game” and were hitting the ball all over the yard on Saturday night. In all, they collected 13 hits en route to a fairly stress-free 7-2 win to secure the series win over the Giants.
Sloppy D leads to unearned run for Giants
For a game that ended up so well, it certainly got off to a rocky start for the visiting Dodgers. After the Giants threw up a zero in the first half of the inning, Julio Urías took to the mound looking for his 17th victory of the year. And a lot went wrong around the Dodgers’ infield in the bottom of the first. A lot. Thairo Estrada led off with a little bleeder that Max Muncy couldn’t get the handle on.
Then, Trea Turner suffered a similar fate on a slowly hit grounder into the hole. He booted the grounder and got charged with an error on the play. After Estrada stole third with one out, Julio was looking for a double play ball to get out of the inning. He got one, but the newly returned Gavin Lux spiked the throw to first and Estrada came home on the play. No further damage was done in the inning, but once again, the Dodgers had to get into comeback mode.
Trayce goes deep to flip the score
The Dodgers played from behind for about ten minutes in this one. In the top of the second, the Dodgers got into the lead in the space of three batters. With new pitcher Sean Hjelle replacing opener Mike Brebbia, the Giants got a quick out, but things went south pretty quickly after that. Justin Turner hit a single (one of three hits on the night) and was on board as Trayce Thompson stepped into the box. He fell behind 0-2, but worked his at-bat into a full count by watching three straight curve balls miss the zone.
Then, Trayce just laid into one. It was a sinker that forgot to sink and Thompson blasted the ball over the centerfield fence to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead. It was Trayce’s 11th home run of the year; he now has an OPS of .923 in his time with the Dodgers.
Runners stay in your lanes!
The second inning was just a foretaste of the damage that the Dodgers had in store for the rookie Hjelle. The righty Hjelle, at 6’11”, might have looked imposing on the mound, but his stuff was anything but. In the top of the 3rd, the Dodgers had another hit-after-hit-after-hit attack that put the game out of reach. In all, it was five straight singles, with a walk, a fielder’s choice and a throwing error thrown in for good measure. By the end of the inning, Freddie Freeman, Justin Turner, Max Muncy, and Joey Gallo had all tallied an RBI, and the Dodgers were up 6-1 and had handed another nice lead to Julio Urías.
Urías is his steady, spectacular self
While I’m sure Julio appreciated all the run support, he hardly needed it. After the Dodgers finally decided to play defense, it was smooth sailing for El Culichi. He gave up his obligatory solo home run (it would hardly be an Urías start without that), but the Giants got precious little else off him. A bunch of weak contact — singles, bleeders on the infield, don’t even recall a hard-hit ball off him all night long other than the dinger. Urías’s line for another outstanding start: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K.
Sandy Alcantara might still be the favorite for the Cy Young award, but you’ve got to think this thing is tightening up a bit.
The Dodgers tacked on another run in the 4th on JT’s second RBI hit of the night. With the game pretty much in the bag and Urías nearing 100 pitches, manager Dave Roberts let the bullpen take it after Julio had pitched six. Tommy Kahnle, Chris Martin, and Justin Bruihl finished things up for the Dodgers, each posting a zero to keep the score at 7-2 for the night.
Season series wraps up with Sunday Night Baseball
Once again, the Dodgers are the featured game on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball. So, that will come with a different start time from the usual: 4:10 PDT first pitch. Andrew Heaney will hook up with Alex Cobb in this final game of the 2022 version of the Dodgers/Giants rivalry. After a rough go of it last season, the Dodgers have definitely re-established their dominance over their northern neighbors. Going into Sunday’s game, they are 14-4 against the Giants. Let’s go for 15 and a happy flight home!
Cans of Corn…
- Urías now leads Sandy Alcantara in wins, ERA, WHIP, and average against. Really, the only argument for Alcantara at this point is the extra innings he’s thrown (45) and the complete games (4). We’ll see what the voters think at the end of the year.
- Trea, Freddie, and Will Smith all had two-hit nights. JT had three.
- On Saturday, the Dodgers recalled pitcher Andre Jackson and placed Tyler Anderson on the paternity list. Hopefully all goes well, and TA will be back with the team in LA.
- Clayton will pitch on Monday. The Tuesday doubleheader will be Grove and who-knows for the second game.
- Trea Turner, who had a two-hit night, is now just three RBI away from becoming the second Dodger shortstop in franchise history with a 100-RBI season. Glenn Wright in 1930 had 126.
- Yency threw a sim game at Oracle on Saturday. Lux and Belli were among the hitters he faced. Next stop is OKC for a couple of re-hab outings.
- Treinen and Graterol both scheduled to pitch to hitters once the team gets back to the Ravine on Monday. Activation could follow shortly thereafter.
- Price is also nearing activation… threw a bullpen on Saturday.
- This Dodger team is the fastest to 100 wins of any team in franchise history.
