Dodgers Team News

Dodgers Salvage Series On Getaway Day Against Cubs At Wrigley

The Los Angeles Dodgers salvaged their three-game series on getaway day by winning 2-1 on Thursday afternoon at Wrigley Field. While the usual suspects factored into the win on offense, a team-concentrated effort from the pitching staff helped the Dodgers improve to 16-11 on the season before returning home to Los Angeles.

Here’s a recap of what took place.



The Offense

In a scoreless game in the fifth inning – Alex Verdugo continued to get his numbers. Verdugo tripled, his second of the season; and scored on a batted ball in play that was scored an error off the bat of Chris Taylor. Furthermore, Verdugo is now slashing .345/.367/.690, and let’s make sure we give special attention to that .690 slugging percentage. This young man has been absolutely raking, and it shouldn’t be lost on anyone that the triple came off left-handed starter Jon Lester.

While the Dodgers had just four hits on the day, Cody Bellinger was an active participant. Bellinger doubled, walked, and had a bases loaded sacrifice fly in the top of the eighth inning. In his own right, Bellinger’s respective slash-line sits at .426/.500/.894, and needs little else to be said if you have been watching. Now, Bellinger has 31 runs batted in on the young season.

Rocky Gale and A.J. Pollock added base hits on a slow offensive day that took on the character of a day matinee game at Wrigley Field.

The Pitching

Ross Stripling took the ball with the task of giving the Dodgers a winning effort so they would not be swept. I believe that he provided his team with everything they were looking for on Thursday afternoon.

Stripling threw a total of 76 pitches, 51 for strikes in his 4 and 2/3 innings of work. He allowed five hits, striking out six, while walking just one. Chicken Strip was pulled from the ballgame in favor of Pedro Baez just one out short of qualifying to be the pitcher of record.

Baez was the winning pitcher in this game, striking out 3 Cubs in his 1 and 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. After a rough performance on Wednesday night, the bullpen seemed to follow suit of Baez. Caleb Ferguson and Joe Kelly each were in control of their own scoreless innings to turn the game over to Kenley Jansen with a 2-0 lead in the ninth.

While Jansen would allow Albert Almora Jr.’s first home run of the season, he did enough to lock down his 8th save of the year. Overall, the Dodgers pitching staff should be commended for their effort in game three of this series. If you’re handing out a game ball, Stripling and Baez should share the award.

Looking Ahead

The Dodgers return to Chavez Ravine for the weekend to host another NL Central opponent in the Pittsburgh Pirates. Pittsburgh has been a scrappy bunch, sitting at 12-11 on the 2019 season. Los Angeles will see a run of three straight right-handed starters in this series in Chris Archer, Joe Musgrove, and Trevor Williams.

That may sound like good news to some – and it will be nice to see the Dodgers run out some of their power bats with the familiar backdrop of Dodger Stadium. Undoubtedly, the offensive needs to heat up while the pitching staff gains consistency.

The Dodgers Will Keep Starting Chris Taylor, Even Through His Struggles

Staff Writer

Staff Writer features content written by our site editors along with our staff of contributing writers. Thank you for your readership.

One Comment

  1. In the old days when “starting” pitchers usually” finished” or didn’t) five innings to be “pitcher of record” to qualify for the “win” made sense and was fair. Today, in the era of “enhanced bullpens, ” five innings seems very unfair to qualify for a win when the starter can get the loss in a third of an inning (or less.) This rule should be changed to reflect the modern era.

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