Steve Webb
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA — Home, sweet home! After a road trip that could have gone better, to be quite honest (seems like there’s a lot of those this season), the Dodgers were back in Los Angeles on Tuesday night, and they didn’t waste any time washing the dust of the road off their unis. They exploded for a four-run first inning and rode some nifty pitching from Tony Gonsolin to a 5-1 over the White Sox.
If you came late to the stadium on Tuesday, you missed pretty much all of the Dodgers’ offensive output for the night. The team jumped on Sox starter Lance Lynn quickly in this one. After leadoff hitter Mookie Betts struck out, Freddie Freeman got on base with a walk, which brought up the evening’s bobblehead honoree, noted stand-up comedian Will Smith.
He might bomb with the dad jokes at the comedy club, but on the field, the dude hits different kinds of bombs. In this one, Smith got ahead of Lynn 3-1 and then drilled a middle-in sinker 413 feet “to the people.” It was a great start to the game.
Three batters later, David Peralta did the same, blasting a two-run shot of his own to straightaway centerfield. While Will Smith homers are practically expected, we shouldn’t sleep on the season that David Peralta is quietly putting together. After an abysmal start, Peralta is hitting .319 in his last 30 games, and has on OPS of .856. He and J.D. Martinez are looking like the bargains of the century as far as off-season pickups are concerned.
Staked to an early lead, Dodgers starter Tony Gonsolin pretty much cruised through the rest of the game. There were a few funky defensive moments along the way, and Gonsolin gave up a solid single to Andrew Vaughn, but other than that, nails: 6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER 2 BB, 6 K.
“He’s going to be huge,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts of his starter. “He’s an All-Star pitcher. So when he’s right and he’s healthy, he’s as good as anyone.”
Gonsolin’s health has been a hot topic of late. In fact, the whole reason for the bullpen game in Philly was the desire to Tony an extra couple days between starts. And if the scoreboard is any indication, it worked.
“I think the extra couple days really helped me,” Gonsolin said after the game. “For whatever reason, I just didn’t come out of this last start super great. I was fortunate enough to have the extra days. I think it showed today that they were very useful.”
Indeed, the Dodgers are gifted with a favorable schedule this month, one in which they have at least one, sometimes two, off-days per week. Which will allow the depleted pitching staff to try to get its sea legs again. They get back at it on Wednesday with Clayton Kershaw on full rest. He takes on former Padre Mike Clevinger at the Ravine. 7:10 first pitch.
