Today’s series finale between the Dodgers and Cubs was supposed to be billed as a pitching match-up with Clayton Kershaw countering Jon Lester. Then baseball happened and both aces sucked and the game turned into a slugfest as the Dodgers used their bats instead of their arms mashing four home runs to beat the Cubs 9-4. I guess you could say the Dodgers still used their arms anyways since you have to use your arms to hit a home run.
Kershaw and Lester combined to allow 10 earned runs on 18 hits and neither ace was able to make it past the fifth inning. Kershaw struggled early with his fastball command and had to be removed in the fifth inning. The Cubs used a strategy straight from the scouting reports. They were hacking as they were hitting Kershaw’s first pitch. That combined with the humidity during a hot sticky day at Chavez Ravine spelled disaster for Kershaw. Fortunately for the Dodgers they scored nine runs, six of them against Lester.
Cubs 4 11 0
Dodgers 9 11 1
WP-Fields-2-0
LP-Lester-3-3
HR-Bellinger-10-Hernandez-4-Contreras-5-Baez-8-Rizzo-12-Barnes-2-Puig-9
The Dodgers hit four home runs (there were seven hit overall in this game) as they completed a series sweep over the Cubs for the first time since 2012. Cody Bellinger smashed a three-run shot in the second inning and Kike Hernandez added a three-run blast of his own in the third as the Dodgers jumped out to an early 6-1 lead. Yasiel Puig and Austin Barnes added bombs later in the game to seal the win for the Dodgers.
Kershaw had to battle out of traffic jams in the first and second innings. It was the Cubs who had the lead first. Consecutive softly hit flares from Javier Baez, and Kris Bryant and a fielder’s choice force out from Anthony Rizzo put runners on first and third in the opening frame. Kershaw toughed his way out of it by getting Ian Happ swinging on a rising fastball and Heyward to fly out to right.
Chicago catcher Willson Contreras bashed a solo home run over the right center field wall to put the Cubs ahead 1-0. In the bottom of the second the Dodgers scored three against a lackluster Jon Lester. Kike walked, and bloop single to right put two runners on for Cody Bellinger. The kid smashes a monster three-run home run to right field to put the Dodgers ahead 3-1. That’s the tenth home run of the season for Bellinger, for the team lead.
Photo Credit Blah from Dodgersdigest
Kershaw gave up two singles and a walk in the top of the third but somehow escaped the inning without allowing any runs to score. The Dodgers extended their lead with more muscle in the bottom half of the frame. Corey Seager singles to center, and after Chris Taylor whiffed, Puig reaches on a ground ball single. Then Kike launches a mammoth home run into the left field pavilions to give the Dodgers a 6-1 lead! I know, I know Kike has been playing much better the last few weeks. I guess I owe him an apology for calling him an automatic out. I’ll gladly do that if he keeps this up.
Kershaw falters in the top of the fourth allowing the Cubs to get back into the game. After Lester strikes out to begin the frame, Baez homers to make the score 6-2. Then Kershaw walks Bryant and Rizzo pulls a home run to right field to cut the lead to 6-4. That’s three home runs allowed for Kershaw and by the time the fourth inning was done his pitch count was at 99. Lester was removed in the bottom of the fourth and mike Montgomery was called in from the Chicago bullpen.
Kershaw struggled again to get through the fifth inning. Addison Russell singled. Almora singles off of a grounder deflected off Kershaw’s glove. Then Montgomery sacrifices the runners to second and third. The Dodgers take out Kershaw and bring in flame-throwing right hander Josh Fields. He blows away Baez and Bryant striking them both out with 95+ MPH heaters.
In the bottom of the fifth Austin Barnes got into the fun with a home run of his own to give the Dodgers a 7-4 lead. Puig added a two-run shot in the seventh inning to put the Dodgers up by a 9-4 score. Puig was 2 for 4 on the game with the home run and a single. Seager and Barnes both had two hits and the Dodgers were 3 for 7 with runners in scoring position.
The Dodger bullpen was fantastic yet again. Fields, Sergio Romo, Adam Liberatore, and Kenley Jansen tossed 4.2 innings of scoreless ball with five strikeouts, one walk and no hits. Fields would pick up the win in relief.
The Dodgers have now won 9 of their last 11 games and finish the home stand at 8-2. The Dodgers are 31-20 overall and have moved back into second place after Milwaukee defeated Arizona. The Dodgers are 1.5 games behind Colorado and 21-8 at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers are good.
The Boys in blue will pack their suitcases and head to St. Louis for a four game series. They’ll play an opening game matinee on Memorial Day. Blister expert Rich Hill will face Mike Leake at 11:15 AM PST. Oh and btw the broom depot is open and you can get 15% off on all of your Dodger sweep merchandise. Just enter the promo code “DodgersSweepCubs” to receive your discount.
Cody Love:Bellinger goes 1 for 4 with a three-run home run (10), 3 whiffs and three runs driven in. 10 HR, 28 RBI, batting average- .272
Oh and Puig did this…
Nice sweep. Now time to go on the road and continue this.
Meanwhile, for Tulsa today, Walker Buehler: 5ip, 2 hits, 1run, 1bb, 6k on 70 pitches. I think that’s the longest he’s gone this year.
Bobby
I agree!
Our pitchers and our players, are really becoming a better team, as they play.
And there was nice contributions from all of the players!
Puig had a nice catch from hustling yesterday, and Barnes also had a nice day, and he is doing really well, for being a back up catcher, especially considering his playing time.
And Barnes, Cody, Kike, and Puig, all hit one out.
Cody also has made an adjustments, in this series too.
Cody stopped swinging at bad pitches, and instead of striking out, he took a walk if that was what they were going to give him, and I believe he walked three times in Saturday’s game, alone.
And our bullpen continues to be nails when they come in!
Fields pitched two really good innings, and he pitched in a very high leverage, situation, in that first inning he pitched in.
Stripling also stands out, in this series too.
We sweep the champs and we got crickets in here.
We’re hitting. I knew this team was capable of it. Can we keep it going all summer?
Badger
Can any team keep it going all summer long, is the really the question.
Because it isn’t easy!
Badger
Thanks for those War numbers!
I was just trying to find out the War numbers, for this year, to date.
And do they just add up all of the War numbers from each month, to get the total for the season?
Yeah, it’s an accumulation of production. I’m not sure how they put the total together. When researching what Reddick and Hill did for us in ’16, I noticed Reddick had a -.2 oWAR and a +.2dWAR, but an overall +.2 WAR, so clearly they don’t add them together. Peraza has a similar thing, so far this year he has a +.2 oWAR and a +.3 dWAR, but only a +.3 WAR. By the way, Schebler already has 1.2 fWAR this year. So he and Peraza together already have 1.5 WAR and it ain’t even June yet. They’re young, who knows how much total WAR we have traded away the last couple of years. If you’re going to trade the youngsters, try to do it for somebody who will help win the championship now, or at least be around for their productive years. We do have Kiké, Barnes and Taylor who just might be players that stick around and help, but I think all of them are role players. They’re important of course, but where’s that everyday player?
You mean like Grandal or Forsythe?
Schebler is doing great, it’s awesome. I’m not sure he would even be in the majors in Los Angeles.
Maybe he would.
We have a difference of opinion on what every,day means. In 7 years Forsythe has played 150 games once. This year he’s already missed more than 30. Grandal played 126 last year. He’s no Posey or Molina but for him, without PEDs 126 is pretty good.
Forsythe has yet to play everyday, and he sure has not contributed much. Grandal has never played more than 128 games in a season in his career. Granted, catchers get beat up pretty bad, but Molina and Lucroy and guys like that manage a lot more starts than Grandal. By the way, Grandal is only hitting .235 over the last week, and he has a .200 average against the Cardinals. As for Forsythe, he has played over 120 games twice in his career. Last year and 2015. They expected him to play everyday, but his injury kyboshed that. He will be extremely lucky to play 120 games this year.
Totally true, everyday is subjective.
I guess starts more times than not is a little too meager of a definition.
Badger
Bluto mentioned Toles War, but he didn’t list Joc and Puig’s war up to date, so I just wondered.
I knew that Toles had just a little better War then Puig, just before he got hurt, because I saw someone list Tole’s and Puig’s War, numbers.
So I wondered what Joc’s and Puig’s War numbers, were up to date, or even just right after Toles got hurt.
Because I never saw Joc’s.
But when I look up stats on the MLB Site or ESPN, I don’t see War numbers and especially war numbers, up to date, to this season.
And by the way, Thanks for your service.
The Dodgers are placing left-hander Alex Wood on the 10-day disabled list due to inflammation in his left SC joint, tweets Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register. In a corresponding move, the Dodgers have selected the contract of veteran right-hander Brandon Morrow, shifting fellow righty Brock Stewart to the 60-day DL to clear a spot on the 40-man roster.
Sternoclavicular Joint
The sternoclavicular joint occurs between the proximal end of the clavicle and the clavicular notch of the manubrium of the sternum together with a small part of the first costal cartilage. The sternoclavicular joint is a saddle-type joint that allows movement of the clavicle, predominantly in anteroposterior and vertical planes, although some rotation also occurs. The ability to thrust the arm and shoulder forward requires sound function of this joint.
Dammit
You delivered this news Jonah, I’m holding you responsible.
Yeah to be sure, bad news, he has been the teams 2nd best pitcher. But we have depth remember? In case you missed it, that was sarcasm.
The only thing I worried about with Wood, was his endurance, and his ability to pitch throughout the season, without having any injury issues.
And anytime anyone has inflammation, they are usually over doing something, so that is not good news.
And like I already said, I thought Stewart just got healthy enough, to start pitching.
I have the same concern for every starter from here to Oklahoma, including Kershaw.
Jonah
Why don’t you bring back the pitching corpse, in honor of Hill’s start, today !
But only if it isn’t to much trouble!
Trouble is no trouble
Or a better one!
Get used to it, I imagine this continues all year.
Six or seven pitchers for five spots.
How did guys like Cy Young and Christy Mathewson last as long as they did? I suppose they weren’t throwing 95MPH and all the strange pitches in use today.
Same way Verlander, Smoltz and Sabathia did.
We only remember the healthy.
I still have the over on 13.
Jonah
I just read that Morrow didn’t pitch well yesterday, great timing.
This floating DL is just not needed right now, this early in the season, and it messes with the pitcher’s, command.
I thought Stewart had just started pitching, this year.
I wonder what is going on, with him now.
And that reminds me, Hill better pitch a good game today!
He has no excuses for his start today.
The DL management is what will keep this staff afloat until October. I’ve been pushing a 6 man because in my gut I felt this coming. Manipulating the 10 day might accomplish the same thing.
Badger
But it is messing with the pitchers command, especially with pitchers like Maeda, Ryu, and Hill, who pitch with their touch.
But Hill is making his start today, five days later, so his command, shouid be fine today!
A few extra days off shouldn’t mess with anything. Most of these guys are seasoned vets. I could go out today and throw strikes and I haven’t pitched since I was in my mid 50’s. I’m seasoned too. Man am I ever seasoned.
Morrow was 0-5 at OKC, ERA north of 5. Gave up 13 runs in 19 innings, but he did strike out 19. He is the guy down there with the most MLB service time, and he does throw about 99. Most of the other relievers down there are kids.
Any news on mcbrittle’s MRI?
Didn’t Morrow not pitch past three innings, yesterday?
No he did not. Masterson, Marks, Somsen and Broussard pitched yesterday in a loss to New Orleans. All but Broussard gave up 3 runs each. Broussard went 2 scoreless with a strikeout. Morrow has not pitched since Thursday when he gave up 2 runs and both were unearned. 2 errors led to the blown save and the loss. He did not give up a hit in that inning.
I wish they would give Oaks, a chance.
I don’t understand even with the MLB service time, why they bring up these veteran pitchers, that have not been that successful, for a long time, instead of one of the kids.
In their determination MJ, Oaks is not ready. He is not exactly tearing up hitters in the PCL. Morrow did have some success. He has been better as a reliever than as a starter and that is where he is going, the bullpen. Oaks is 1-1 in 9 starts with an ERA of almost 4. They are not going to throw a kid into the mix in the middle of a heated pennant race unless that kid is dominating hitters like Urias was last year. Urias had a good game on Sunday, but he still has control issues. The pitchers doing the best at OKC right now are the veterans. Masterson and Jurjjens lead the team in wins. Whether we like it or not, musical starters on the 10 day DL is here to stay for a while. I would be surprised if it is not used the entire year. Instead of the Brady Bunch, we have the Brittle Bunch. Maeda goes tomorrow against Wacha. If Ryu cannot go, why not start Stripling? The kid has been pretty good, and he has starter experience.
Stewart got lit up Saturday. He went 1/3rd of an inning, giving up 3 runs and 3 hits. Not sure if he left with an injury or what. As for Hill, I would worry more about what the Dodger hitters do with Leake. He dominated them in LA.
They just need to have better at bats, and just foul off his good pitches, until he makes a mistake, and leaves a pitch up.
And thanks for your service too, Michael!
It was my duty to my country as I saw it.
Better at bats is true, but they have been pounding the ball. A good pitcher can beat good hitting and Leake was not making mistakes last time out.
Please. No freaking out over Brock Stewart to 60-day. It Means nothing. Earliest he can be activated is Thursday. Doesn’t change anything
I find that humerus.
Yes, I always found it funny that your “funny bone” is not your humerus.
And to remember the two bones in your lower leg, the smaller of them is the
FIB—ula…., you know, a small lie… Oh, never mind…
Jonah
Great Job, it looks like that is inspiring Hill today, because I guess he can relate!
I knew you were up to the job, thanks!
Joe Davis actually answered my tweet yesterday….that was nice of him.
Michael
Did your tweet say, when is Vinny coming back, or did you ask, about Monday,
No, we were talking about the photo they had of Ruth and Dizzy Dean up and his discussion of when Ruth coached for the Dodgers. He mentioned that Durocher and Ruth did not get along. I told him that went back to when they were team mates on the Yankees. Durocher was managing the Dodgers in 1938 when Ruth coached.
New post guys