Bullpen Falters And Dodgers Lose First Home Series Since August 2014
After Yasiel Puig returned to the Los Angeles Dodgers Saturday and delivered a seventh-inning go-ahead RBI double, the Dodgers looked to avoid losing their first home series since August of 2014.
Following on the heels of Clayton Kershaw’s dominant performance, Zack Greinke started off well with easy 1-2-3 inning while also picking a strikeout along the way. Puig continued his strong comeback with a one-out single and scored on Justin Turner’s RBI double. Lance Lynn got Andre Ethier looking at strike three and the Dodgers settled for a 1-0 lead after the first.
Greinke struck out two more Cardinals in the second before giving up a two-out single to Mark Reynolds. Jon Jay went down swinging as Greinke struck out the side. The Dodgers, meanwhile, went down in order in their half with fly outs from Yasmani Gradal and Jimmy Rollins and a groundout from Kiké Hernandez.
After retiring the first two Cardinals quickly to begin the third inning, Greinke nearly allowed a Kolton Wong to home run to right. Instead, the ball hit off the short wall and Wong had himself a double. Greinke then pitched around Matt Carpenter, walking him on four pitches, but then got out of the jam by getting Matt Holliday to strike out swinging.
Turner delivered one again with an RBI during the bottom half. After the Greinke led things off with a single, he advanced to second on Puig’s second base hit of the game. By the time Turner got to the plate, the Dodgers were already facing two outs. He fouled off a couple of pitches, then singled to center, extending the Dodgers’ lead to 2-0.
The Cardinals had an opportunity to score after Jhonny Peralta began the fourth with a double to left, but they failed to take advantage. Greinke worked around it by picking up two more strikeouts and getting Jon Jay to pop out. The Dodgers had nothing going for them in the bottom half as they went down in order.
CONTINUE READING: Zack Greinke Labors And Dodgers Bullpen Falters
Don Mattingly you are the worst manager in the major leagues. Metheny with 20 concussions can out think you. Nicasio…That’s the best you could do to defend a one run lead?…pretend like you want to win all the time And quit playing everybody like this is AYSOI know there are lot of injuries but right now you’re not putting your best 8 available players on the field.all of the sudden you developed a hard on for Guerrero and you won’t let him play. Shame on you
I totally agree with you, why has Callaspo, Heisy and Kike been played over Guerrero?In a all right handed lineup, that Mattingly made to face a lefty, he played Callaspo over Guerrero! Callaspo is batting 056 against left handers! Guerrero ranks third on the team in RBIs and HRs! Mattingly gave four at bats to Callaspo, Heisy, Rollins, instead of Guerrero! All of the above hitters are hitting at, and below the Mendosa line! I know that Guerrero has been shakey in left field, but he had only played left field six times in AAA last season, a season that was broken up,by the attack on Guerrero, by the a teammate! I know Guerrero played left field in spring training, and some this year, but that’s not much! It is really hard to learn to play any new position in the big leagues! Guerrero’s best position is third base, and he has worked hard to improve his defense at third! Why has Mattingly not played Guerrero at third, and when was the last time that Mattingly has played Guerrero at third base? With the Dodgers struggling to score runs, why is Guerrero not playing! Playing Guerrero at third base, would be good for Guerrero, as well as for the Dodgers! Guerrero would probably be much more confident playing third, and that might even improve his bat. The Dodgers would benefit from playing Guerrero at third, because Guerrero plays third much better than left field. Playing Guerrero at third, there would be no real big take away on defense, and this would make Guerrero ‘s bat look so much better! I thought they traded Uribe, to give more playing time for Turner and Guerrero. Just think about this, Guerrero in much fewer at bats, ranks third in RBIs and HRs on the Dodgers, and only trails Gonzales, with one less HR! It seems like Mattingly is not learning from his mistakes! He continues to not know, when to pull or keep the starting pitching , and he doesn’t seem to know his pitchers in the bullpen! Also, the front office needs get some better arms for Mattingly, in the bullpen, and an arm for the starting pitching!