Dodgers Team News

Dodgers News: Don Mattingly Credits Dee Gordon For Sparking Turnaround

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The Los Angeles Dodgers entered Saturday’s game with the San Francisco Giants one game above .500, 4-6 in their last 10 games and losers of two straight to the Giants. The Dodgers again found themselves trailing to their long-time rival through five innings.

While the Dodger offense collectively struggled to generate any run support for Zack Greinke, Dee Gordon had done his part in effort to spark to the team. Gordon led off the bottom of the first inning with single and has been the case for much of the season, he quickly stole second base. Yasiel Puig struck out and Gordon then stole third.



The Dodgers wouldn’t score in the first, but they later cashed in on a Gordon walk and his third stolen base in the sixth inning. Adrian Gonzalez scored Gordon on a bases loaded double play and manager Don Mattingly gave Gordon credit for his effort, via Ken Gurnick of Dodgers.com:

Down 2-0, it felt like we were down 10, honestly. Getting runs back were like a shot in the arm. Dee created energy all over the place. Obviously, we were going in the wrong direction. These are like a two-game swing.”

With the game tied the following inning and the Dodgers on the cusp of taking hold of the momentum, Gordon delivered with a two-out RBI double to put the Dodgers ahead. While Gordon has delivered on multiple occasions throughout the season with a key hit, Mattingly believes it ties back to his ability to be an effective bunter:

As long as Dee keeps bunting, it puts pressure on the defense and puts the chopper in play; it puts everything in play,” said Mattingly. “In a sense, they’re saying they want to make him hit the ball, and he was able to come through.

Gordon leads the Majors with 24 stolen bases, he also leads the Dodgers in batting average at a .336 clip and he’s fourth on the team with a .369 OBP. Once believed to be a question mark that was having trouble remaining with the big league team, Gordon has arguably been the Dodgers’ most consistent performer and answered the question as to who the team’s second baseman should be.
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