Steve Webb
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA — I get it. There were other things LA sports fans had on their minds on Friday night. But, for those who were out at the Ravine, it was a welcome return to form for the Dodgers. And, it was a welcome return for Will Smith, Max Muncy, and Brusdar Graterol, all returning to the team and contributing in a nice 7-3 win over the struggling St. Louis Cardinals.
The homestand got off to a less-than-ideal start when Dustin May gave up a pair of runs on a walk, a Paul Goldschmidt double, a wild pitch, and a sac fly. With that the Dodgers quickly found themselves in an 0-2 hole.
However, a Mookie Betts leadoff homer in the bottom of the 1st quickly halved the deficit. A Freddie Freeman single, a Max Muncy walk, and a Jason Heyward RBI single later and we had a whole new ball game.
Heyward was feeling froggy in this one, as he made a diving grab on a Nolan Arenado drive to right in the top of the 3rd and then in the bottom of the frame hit an RBI double on a ground ball past his old buddy Nolan Arenado that scored Max Muncy at second. Muncy, in his return from paternity leave, showed off some Dad Strength in the AB previous with a run-scoring double of his own, this one a gapper to score Freddie Freeman all the way from first.
Now up 4-2, the Dodgers rode Dustin May into the middle innings. His command was not ideal, but he had some nice defense behind him on Friday, so was able to navigate through five innings on just over 100 pitches. May’s final line for the night: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 4 K.
The Dodgers tacked on another run in the bottom of the 5th inning when a bunch of weird stuff happened, walks hit batsman, catcher’s interference, you name it. The homeboys had a chance to break it open, but they left the bases loaded.
However, Miguel Vargas put the game on ice in the bottom of the 7th with a two-run dong that gave the team a comfortable five-run cushion heading into the final two innings. On the pitching side of things, May’s relatively short start gave the bullpen four innings to cover on Friday, and they did just fine in that regard. Caleb Ferguson, Brusdar Graterol, Shelby Miller shut out the Redbirds for three innings. But sadly, the same could not be said for Alex Vesia, who gave up a couple of hits and a run in the 9th before closing it out.
A good night. A good victory. And, oh yeah, the Lakers won, too.
Cans of Corn…
- Maybe to welcome Will Smith back from the concussion protocol, home plate ump Nate Tomlinson took a foul ball off the mask in the top of the 1st. It rattled his cage a bit, but he remained in the game.
- Speaking of returning players, in addition to Smith, Max Muncy and Brusdar Graterol were both back from paternity leave that kept them out of the Pittsburgh series.
- J.D. Martinez is on the I.L., backdated to last week with some back pain.
- Mookie Betts’ long fly in the 1st inning was his 38th career leadoff home run. He is in 10th place all-time.
- Freddie Freeman had three hits in this one and looked very non-slumpy. His average is up over .300 again.
- Apple TV was in the house for the game, the first of probably many appearances for the Boys in Blue this season.
- Albert Pujols took in the game and got a nice ovation from the Dodger Stadium crowd. Not wanting to annoy anyone, Tio Albert had a black baseball cap on, not to play favorites in the house that resurrected his career.
- Oddly enough, the ball Jason Heyward hit the hardest on this night was the ball on which catcher’s interference was called; he absolutely smoked a drive to right.
