Yasiel Puig made his triumphant return from the disabled list on Saturday evening as the Dodgers beat the struggling Braves 5-1 to take another one from Atlanta at Sun Trust Park. The Dodgers have won three consecutive games over the Braves with Atlanta pitching issuing 14 walks over the last two days. But getting back to Puig, he was magnificent in his return hitting a home run and driving in three of the Dodger’s five runs on the day.
It’s certainly great to have Puig back but Alex Wood contributed to the win by turning in another quality start. Wood tossed 5.2 of shutout innings allowing just one hit and striking out five. He was a bit wild walking four and hitting a batter, but still pitched very well. Wood was taken out with two outs in the bottom of the sixth and earned his seventh victory of the season. He’s now 6-0 over his last six decisions.
The Dodger bats scored one run in the second, two in the sixth and added another two in the top of the ninth. The Dodgers were 2 for 12 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base. The Dodgers were also aided by turning three double plays in the field.
Dodgers 5 6 2
Braves 1 3 1
WP-Wood-7-5
LP-Fried-1-4
HR-Puig-12-Camargo-11
Opposing starter Max Fried looked impressive early on, striking out two in the opening frame. However the Dodgers got to him in the second. Enrique Hernandez singled and Cody Bellinger was plunked with a pitch. Logan’s line out to center advanced Hernandez to third, but an errant throw from Ender Inciarte hit Enrique in the back of the neck. That allowed Bellinger to go to second. Hernandez would score on a sacrifice fly from Puig to put the Dodgers on the board.
Wood was a little shaky in the opening innings. In the bottom of the first former Dodger Charlie Culberson’s double hit the top of the wall. It was only a few feet from going out. Wood would strikeout Freddie Freeman and get Nick Markakis to fly out. In the bottom of the second Wood walked Tyler Flowers, but got three ground outs to end the inning. He had very little trouble afterwards.
Move to the top of the sixth. With the Dodgers still leading 1-0, Bellinger walked and with two outs Puig crushed a laser shot to left field for a two-run home run that put the Dodgers ahead 3-0. That’s Puig’s twelfth home run of the season. In the bottom of the sixth, with two outs Freeman reaches on a throwing error from Taylor. There was a wild pitch and a walk to Markakis to put two on for the Braves. With Flowers successful against lefties, JT Chargois is brought in and strikes him out for the third out.
Left hander Caleb Ferguson pitched the bottom of the seventh and eighth innings. Johan Camargo hit a solo home run in the seventh for the lone Atlanta run. Otherwise that was the only hit he would allow over the two frames. He induced a key double play in the eighth off the bat of Markakis to squelch an Atlanta rally.
The Dodgers added additional runs in the top of the ninth. Back-to-back walks to Puig and Austin Barnes setup RBI singles from Taylor and Manny Machado to increase the Dodger lead to 5-1. Erik Goeddel pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth to secure the win. Dodgers win it 5-1!
The Braves have really fallen back in the National League East race. They’ve lost four consecutive games and seven of their last ten games. They’re currently 2.5 games back of Philadelphia. The Dodgers on the other hand have won seven of their last ten contests. They currently have a two game lead in the National League West. It will be 2.5 if Arizona loses in San Diego.
On a stupider note, apparently the Atlanta broadcasters called the Dodgers “embarrassments” for not wearing their full uniforms during batting practice. Keep in mind this is batting practice! They’re just salty because Atlanta is losing. I like Chad’s request though. Perhaps the entire team can wear suits and ties as well. The Dodgers go for the sweep on Sunday as they wrap up the road trip. Ross Stripling will take on southpaw Sean Newcomb with first pitch scheduled for 10:35 AM PST.
https://twitter.com/ChadMoriyama/status/1023386979503751168
https://twitter.com/ChadMoriyama/status/1023403219299446785
Remarkably, Wood stopped the chops in spite of his shaky start. He is getting the run support and the bullpen is doing a fantastic job of chop stopping. We have virtually shutdown Atlanta, a top offensive team in the NL. Dare I say, we have the best pitching in the NL? You betcha. The relief army has made extraordinary contributions this season.
Welcome back Puig! Nice way to make his comeback.
Manny getting hot. Joc & Bellinger getting cold. Taylor clutch. Good to see runs scoring.
Let’s do the sweep!!
Nice win. A few more of these low stress wins please!
I knew Puig couldn’t wait until he started his first game, after hitting that big HR off that Angel leftie, in one of his few last at bats.
So I wasn’t surprised about the sac fly he hit in, or his big HR.
Because he had been working with Turner Ward, to start hitting lefties, because he was letting lefties jam him inside, and that is why he was having trouble hitting lefties.
Puig hit his homer off of a RH relief pitcher. He had a pretty good approach at the plate and he hit a hanging curveball with just a flick of his wrist. Pretty impressive. Lets just keep it up. Dodgers in on Archer, Rays weighing offers.
Archer doesn’t impress me at all. His numbers and career stats are mediocre at best. He’s under contract through ’21 and his salary is $6m+. ERA over 4 and WHIP 1.39. We don’t need him.
Rumors:
Diekman: 46 G, 14 HLD, 3.79 ERA, 10.9 K/9
Leclerc: 39 G, 13 HLD, 2.39 ERA, 12.7K/9
These type of players are more like it.
Like I said yesterday, I think FAZ is happy with what they have going forward. Barnes and Forsythe not withstanding, the club looks set up ok. That’s assuming the Ryu, Urias, Santana, Cingrani, and Fields group yields a couple we can rely on. We can cover for Barnes and Forsythe will be dealt with soon. I like our chances in the NL. Do I believe we are set up to win a World Series? No. What do I think we need? The same thing I’ve felt we’ve needed for the last few years – the replacement for Greinke.
Despite the best of intentions, when it mattered it definitely didn’t turn out to be Darvish.
Nope. Seemed like a good idea at the time…..
The Dodgers, 16–7 in July, lead the Major Leagues in ERA (2.96), WHIP (1.01) strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.4), opponents’ batting average (.205) this month.
Dodger starters have the Majors’ second-best ERA this month (3.01) and relievers are third with a 2.86 ERA.
Dodgers went 6-4 on a challenging 10-game road trip against three playoff contenders.
Two of those losses can be attributed (one directly) to the 16 inning towel toss.
I imagine Stripling is headed to either the pen or the DL for the foreseeable future.
Yeah, this game was an example of our all or nothing talent. Some days we can beat anybody. Some days we couldn’t beat the Whitefish Zephyrs. The only run was a gimme. We deserved to be shut out today.
Stripling will need to step into that revolving door I’ve been talking about. Time for the young man to get some R&R.
Kudos to Brave’s manager Brian Snitker for letting Newcomb at least have a chance at a no hitter. Dummy would have pulled him after 100 pitches or before. 133 pitches is a lot but you never know if that chance will come again.
Very true. Somewhat ironic it came against Stripling.