Steve Webb
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA — For a hot minute, it looked like we were going to have a nail-biter on our hands at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night. Tony Gonsolin exited the game after giving up just one run over six innings with a 4-1 lead. But Alex Vesia gave up two quick runs in the 7th inning, and suddenly the score was 4-3. A little too close for comfort.
And then the Dodger hitters collectively said, “Enough of this nonsense.” They scored five times in the next two at-bats, putting the game on ice and allowing them to coast to a relatively easy 9-3 victory.
The hitting stars of the win were two of the hottest hitters in baseball right now: Freddie Freeman and J.D. Martinez. And for good measure, Max Muncy and Jason Heyward came along for the ride. Freeman continues to be All-World, going 4-for-5 and raising his batting average to .344. Martinez homered for the third straight game and raised his OPS to over 1.000. Muncy got a key two-run double early in the game to put the Dodgers out in front, and J. Hey homered in his first at-bat, drove in two, and was on base all night long. So yeah, good times.
“Feels like I’m in a rhythm right now at the plate,” Martinez said after the game. “Just happy we’re winning and it’s our lineup. I keep talking about it, but it’s a potent lineup up and down.”
In his postgame comments, manager Dave Roberts highlighted the contributions of that potent lineup. “It was just consistent one through nine,” he said. “Obviously, J.D. with the big homer two nights in a row, and then Freddie gave us a little bit of distance with his homer. All in all, really positive.”
The Dodgers go for the sweep with a Wednesday matinee. Noah Syndergaard tries to get his season back on track and the Dodgers try to get out the brooms against Patrick Corbin. Game time 1:10.
