Steve Webb
SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Looking to finish strong, the Dodgers got three longballs from three players who will figure heavily in their postseason prospects in 2023 as they beat the San Francisco Giants 6-2 at Oracle Park on Friday night.
Will Smith took Giants starter Keaton Winn deep in the top of the first with a two-run shot to get the Dodgers on the board. Then, after the Giants got a run back in the bottom of the inning, Freddie Freeman re-established a two-run lead with a solo shot of his own in the top of the third. But it was J.D. Martinez and his three run blast in the sixth that was really the difference maker in this one, giving the Dodgers a 6-2 advantage and allowing them to cruise to a relatively easy victory over the Giants.
Each homer was important in its own way. the Smith homer mattered because his power numbers have been way down in the second half, and a scuffling Will Smith in the postseason is suboptimal. Freeman’s was great because it was his 29th of the year, inching him ever so close to that 30-home run plateau. J.D. Martinez, who has almost single-handedly carried the Dodgers in September, drove in his 1,000 career RBI with his dinger.
It was really Freddie Freeman who was the offensive star of the game. The Dodgers steady superstar went 3-for-4, and yes, he hit another double for his 59th of the year. This double, like so many this season, just came from Freddie’s hustle alone. I don’t think I’ve seen anybody get more double on groundballs up the middle than Freeman. Still, a double is a double, and Freeman needs just one more to hit sixty, something that hasn’t been done in the big leagues since the days of Ducky Medwick.
“If that happens, that happens. I’m not really worried about that,” Freeman said. “If I start feeling good at the plate and start having good swings, that will potentially result in those. But if you start thinking about individual things, you’re playing for the wrong reason.”
Pitching-wise, it was Lance Lynn on the rubber for the Dodgers. He labored mightily in the first, throwing nearly forty pitches and giving up a run, but he settled in very nicely after that. The only damage done in the last five innings of his outing was a Wilmer Flores solo shot in the third. Lynn’s line for the day: 6.0 IP, 2 H 2 ER, 4 BB, 4 K. He too is making a decent case for a postseason start. He had back-to-back awful appearances in late August and early September, but has been a pretty good pitcher outside of those two trainwrecks. We’ll see how the Dodgers decide to play it in October.
The win also nudges the Dodgers to the edge of another 100-win season. It would be the fourth straight full season where the team has hit the century mark, and the fifth of manager Dave Roberts tenure with the team. No team in MLB history has hit four straight 100-win seasons, and the Dodgers will be chasing history in these last two games for that distinction.
“I’d like it,” said Freeman when asked about the team chasing 100 wins. “I wasn’t part of one until last year. Winning 111 was pretty cool. I think it’s like three or four times in a row if we do it — so, yeah, that would be special.”
It would be lovely if the guy who got the Dodgers to the century mark was Clayton Kershaw. Making what MAY be his last regular season start as a Dodger, Kershaw takes to the bump on Saturday against rookie righty Tristan Beck, making only the third start of his young career. Game time is 6:05 PDT. Let’s do this!
