Mookie Betts and the Dodgers took the series win against the division rival, Diamondbacks. The Dodgers won three of the four games this weekend.
Players like AJ Pollock, Corey Seager and Mookie Betts powered the Dodgers offense while the Dodgers bullpen held their own against the Diamondbacks.
The Dodgers offense scored a combined total of 23 runs in their four game series. The Dodgers pitching staff allowed just 10 runs.
In the first game of the series, Ross Stripling took the mound and eventually picked up the win, his second of the season. Stripling pitched into the sixth inning and was charged with three earned runs that raised his ERA to 2.92.
Then the Dodgers bullpen came in to save the day.
Adam Kolarek, Joe Kelly, Brusdar Graterol and Pedro Baez combined to allow ONE hit the rest of the game. Pedro Baez picked up the save and was the first of the season. We have come a long way from the days of bashing Baez but, he has definitely found whatever he had been searching for. He is throwing his usual heat but has mixed in a changeup that is a bonafide strikeout pitch.
AJ Pollock, Max Muncy and Corey Seager all homered in Thursday night’s win. The former Dback, AJ Pollock, doubled and homered to drive in two runs. Pollock has been flying under the radar so far this season and is finally the AJ Pollock that fans want him to be.
Friday night’s game was an example of over-managing the pitching matchups. The Dodgers lost on Friday night 5-3. Four of those five runs were charged to reliever, Blake Treinen.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, the DBacks had two men on base with two outs and instead of pitching to a batter that has been on a slow start, they walk him and pitch to a player that has tremendous success against the Dodgers, Christian Walker.
Walker came into the inning and doubled in the right field gap to clear the bases and give the DBacks the lead, 4-3. David Peralta would single to bring Walker home and ultimately be the nail in the coffin for the Dodgers.
The positive of Friday night’s game is that Mookie Betts hit his first career home run for the Dodgers and Corey Seager hit a home run for the third straight game.
On Saturday, Julio Urias took the mound against Luke Weaver and showed his flash and skill. Urias pitched six innings, walked one batter and struck out five while allowing two earned runs.
Much of this game was an offensive display of power for the Dodgers, though.
Edwin Rios homered, Matt Beaty homered, AJ Pollock homered and finally Chris Taylor homered. For Matt Beaty and Chris Taylor, their home runs were the first of the season.
In addition to the homer happy Dodgers, Justin Turner hit a triple that scored two runners and Joc Pederson singled to the opposite field to bring Turner home. Pederson hitting to the opposite side of the field was a real shocker.
The slumping Cody Bellinger was given the night off after going 0-5 on Friday night. Luckily for Bellinger and the Dodgers, he isn’t striking out a whole lot. He is making contact and putting the ball in play, he’s just been running on bad luck.
The Dodgers won Saturday’s game 11-2 and had no issues putting the DBacks to bed.
Sunday’s series finale was a true finale in which the Dodgers had three MVPs playing (Clayton Kershaw 2014, Mookie Betts 2018, Cody Bellinger 2019) and Clayton Kershaw finally made his 2020 season debut and it was a classic Kershaw start.
The three MVP’s carried the Dodgers the whole game and that was all that was needed.
Kershaw was throwing his pitches where he wanted, didn’t walk a single batter and his velocity touched 93 MPH. He pitched into the sixth inning and struck out six batters while only allowing three hits.
Back in the lineup after having the day off, Cody Bellinger returned with a bang. In his first at bat of the game, he sent a rocket down the right field line for his first home run of the season. Bellinger was all smiles as he rounded the bases.
Later on in the fifth inning, Mookie Betts homered to right field and that ball landed in the pool at Chase Field. If Bumgarner had been pitching, I’m sure the term “Go get it out of the pool” would have been heard coming from the Dodgers dugout.
The Dodgers would end up winning Sunday’s game 3-0 and won the series against the DBacks. The Dodgers current season record is 7-3.
Now, the Dodgers, looking to extend their division lead, head to San Diego to face the Padres for the first of three games. Walker Buehler is scheduled to pitch against Chris Paddack. A matchup that I guarantee we will see more of in the future.
Today, Dave Roberts was interviewed by media and had this to say:
“To be quite honest, I don’t think we’ve really clicked on all cylinders.”
This is a scary team and that statement just shows how good this team could be. They currently have a run differential of 30 runs, they have the lowest ERA in the league and the offense is averaging 5.5 runs per game.
Imagine what this team will be like when they are clicking on all cylinders. Watch out.
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