The Rangers are an awful team and they made the Dodgers look like an absolute powerhouse. I guess that’s what happens when you have a 45 year old pitcher on the mound on Tuesday. That’s right folks, Bartolo Colon started the game on Tuesday night and did not fare well against the red hot Dodgers. The only highlight for Bartolo was that he collected his 2,500th career Strikeout. Colon is one of three active pitchers with at least 2,500 Strikeouts, CC Sebathia and Justin Verlander are the other two. Unfortunately this moment was overshadowed by the amount of runs he allowed to the Dodgers. “Big Sexy” allowed 8 earned runs, 7 of those runs came in the third inning alone.
Yasiel Puig got the scoring started in the second inning with a booming double that everyone in the stadium was gone for sure. The ball was about a foot shy of clearing the wall but that was enough to score Cody Bellinger from first base. Following Puig, the HOT Joc Pederson homered off of Colon for his eighth of the year and seventh this month! Hopefully Pederson keeps up this insane pace and doesn’t fall off in a week or two. I don’t want it to happen but we’ve seen this before.
With the score 3-2, the fill in starter, Caleb Ferguson, gave up two runs in the top of the third inning and it looked like the Rangers were starting to build some momentum. Fortunately, those dreams were quickly shut down. Now, for the bottom of the third inning. “MAD MAX Muncy” continued his dominance when he hit his thirteenth Home Run of the season. Watching this Home Run was something. Muncy hit the ball so high that it looked like it would be a fly out, but the ball just kept carrying and eventually landed in the right field pavilion.
During the fourth inning, Puig didn’t like that his double was a few feet short of a Home Run, so in his next at bat he made sure to hit it out. Which he did, Puig crushed a 2-Run Home Run for his eighth of the season. Now 7-2, Chris Taylor added to that lead and singled to bring home Joc Pederson, making the score 8-2. Then, Justin Turner grounded into a force out to score Chris Taylor and advanced to second on the error from Rougned Odor. Following an intentional walk to Matt Kemp, Cody Bellinger doubled which sent Turner home and Kemp to third. Finally to cap off the damage in the fourth inning, Yasmani Grandal singled to bring home Kemp and Bellinger.
From here on, besides Shin-Soo Choo’s Home Run in the fifth inning, this game was pretty boring. It’s fun to see a team beat up on another team but after the initial runs are scored, the game just gets boring. My dad and I waited for the singing of “take me out to the ballgame” and then decided to leave. We listened to Rick Monday call the game on the radio and listened as the Rangers scored two runs in the top of the ninth inning but were ultimately shut down. The Dodgers would win the first game of the series, 12-5.
Wednesday night, Dodger fans saw Kenta Maeda return from the Disabled List and although he didn’t have one of his signature outings from this season, he still pitched well enough to keep the Dodgers in the game. The opposing pitcher, Cole Hamels, pretty much matched Maeda and stayed in the game until the sixth inning.
The Dodgers scored first when Justin Turner homered in the bottom of the first inning for his second Home Run of the season. The next run came on a double steal and an error from Adrian Beltre at third base. Puig stole third while Logan Forsythe stole second and I guess that was too much to handle as Beltre missed the throw which sent Puig to the plate.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Adrian Beltre came in to score and a play at the plate was made. The big kahuna’s in New York ruled him safe after the Dodgers challenged the call. However, the picture is somewhat blurry but you can safely say that New York messed up this call and Beltre was tagged out at the plate. Oh well, Joey Gallo would come up later and single to score Jurickson Profar and tie the game at two runs a piece.
This game was still tied going into the bottom of the ninth and during that inning, the Dodgers managed to get Puig all the way to third base with no outs. Walkoff incoming right? Wrong. With Logan Forsythe on first and the Rangers playing at double play depth, Austin Barnes grounded into one of the most improbable double plays. Annnnnd, we head to extra innings.
After two innings, the Dodgers finally got the job done. With the bases loaded, Barnes hit a soft line drive back to the pitcher and Kiké Hernandez came in to score the winning run. Hernandez flashed his moves by essentially dancing around the catcher to avoid being tagged out at home.
Now, I think I’m forgetting an important moment that happened earlier in the game on Wednesday night. Oh yeah I am. Matt Kemp demolished Robinson Chirinos at home plate. Completely bulldozed right through him and that started a benches clearing “brawl”. No punches were thrown, just a bunch of shoving and saying “I wish you would” or “You’re lucky I didn’t”, I don’t know, make up your commentary for these events. It’s usually more entertaining. Kemp and Chirinos would be ejected after this incident.
The Dodgers take on the San Francisco Giants this weekend in Los Angeles. Let’s see if the Dodgers can keep it up and create some distance between them and the Giants. Ross Stripling is on the mound tonight and you can assume that it’ll be another great pitching performance.
Leadoff Dodgers 