Cody Snavely
WASHINGTON, DC — After a tough loss last night, where both teams waited over four hours for a lengthy rain delay, the Dodgers and Nationals would meet for a rubber match to decide this three-game series. The Nationals would turn to RHP Trevor Williams, who, since the All-Star break, has an ERA over six. Clayton Kershaw, who was in line to start this finale, was pushed back to Monday so Dave Roberts would look for Ryan Yarbrough to give them a bulk of the innings today.
The Dodgers would score two runs early off Willaims, who gave up an RBI single to Jason Heyward, which scored Freeman and Muncy. The Dodgers were not done there as they would add to the lead in the 2nd inning, scoring another two runs with a James Outman HR, and with the bases loaded, David Peralta would get hit by a pitch in his elbow, which would ultimately force him to exit contest with a left elbow contusion.
Ryan Yarbrough had multiple 1-2-3 innings for LA; however, Yarbrough was put to work in the 4th inning, where four singles in five at-bats scored two runs for the Nationals, who were slowly chipping away. Entering the 5th inning, the Dodgers were in business with the bases loaded with Miguel Rojas at the plate. Rojas, who has been hitting the ball well, would go station to station with an RBI single to put LA up 5-2. Then, in typical East Coast fashion, the rain would appear, putting the game into another delay. The game could not be called since it was the middle of the 5th inning.
After about an hour of rain delay, the Dodgers had the bases loaded with one away, and Austin Barnes hit a sacrifice fly to get the Dodgers up to six runs on the day. The hits would continue in the 6th inning with an RBI double by Kiké Hernández.
After five strong innings from Yarbrough, his start was cut short due to the rain delay, but the Dodgers bullpen was up for the task, only allowing 1 run the remainder of the game. With today’s win and Arizona’s loss, the Dodgers’ magic number is 6 with the tiebreaker. The Dodgers head home for a three-game set against the Padres.
