Steve Webb
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA — It’s all falling the Dodgers’ way this month. When two guys who weren’t even on the Opening Day roster deliver the latest win in shutout fashion, you know you’re living right. This time, it was Ryan Pepiot and Ryan Yarbrough. The Ryan Express held the Diamondbacks to just six hits the entire game and allowed the offense to crank it up once again as the Dodgers completed their sweep of Arizona in fine fashion, winning 7-0 in the finale on Wednesday night.
Pepiot, who started the season on the IL, threw in his third game at the big-league level this year, and it was his best game yet. Starting the game for the first time, Pepiot had his nice cambio working to perfection, keeping the D-backs off balance the entirety of his five innings.
“Just being able to navigate and just trying to get weak contact,” Pepiot said after the game. “Guys made some good plays behind me, and having run support always helps.”
Indeed. Neither Pepiot nor Yarbrough needed to have his best stuff on Wednesday because the Dodgers were still bashing the ball all over the yard. This time the victim was starter Brandon Pfaadt. The Dodgers were all over the Arizona righty, scoring six runs in just four innings.
There were three big hits that turned this game into a laugher. First, in the third inning, the Dodgers went buddy-buddy on the Snakes when good friends Freddie Freeman and Jason Heyward both hit two-run shots to get the Dodgers off to a 4-0 lead. For Freeman, it was his 25th homer of the year, and for Heyward, it was just the latest episode in the absolute tear he’s been on lately. After a rough July, Heyward is hitting .327 in August with three home runs with a .993 OPS. There absolutely must be something to having these two close friends back in the same lineup. Heyward’s comeback season is without doubt one of the joys of the 2023 campaign.
Freeman wasn’t done with his hitting on the day. In the bottom of the fourth, Freeman bashed his 51st double of the year, setting up a clutch, two-run double from Max Muncy. Freeman is now just one double away from tying the Dodgers’ franchise record of 52, which has stood since 1929. But let’s not sleep on Max Muncy, either. Muncy’s recent tear has been every bit as impressive as Heyward’s: over the last fifteen games, Muncy’s slash line is a gaudy .298/.385/561 with three home runs and 13 RBI.
“All I can do is keep focusing on doing my routine every day and trying to stay in a good headspace and hope that this continues,” said Muncy, who also drove in the Dodgers’ final run with an RBI single in the sixth. “It just started in Cleveland after the off-day. Things started clicking a little bit. Just kind of a different mindset out there.”
“It’s just good all-around baseball,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “I think a lot of times teams talk about when you have the hitting, you’re not pitching, and vice versa. But I think right now we’ve had both every night.”
All this scoring allowed the Dodgers to rest key bullpen pieces in advance of the big four-game series with the Atlanta Braves coming this holiday weekend. With the Dodgers still trailing the Braves for best record in the NL, these games will do a lot to decide playoff seeding in October. Lance Lynn will take the mound against Spencer Strider in the first game on Thursday, first pitch at 7:10 pm. Should be a great holiday weekend of baseball. Cancel that weekend trip, and get thee to Chavez Ravine!
