Recap: Offense Explodes to Back Rich Hill, Dodgers Even Series

The ball was flying on Tuesday night at Chavez Ravine as the Dodgers managed to even the series with the New York Mets, and more importantly, keep pace with their NL West counterparts.

Both sides managed to take advantage of the long ball early, but ultimately the Met’s bullpen was unable to keep the Dodgers’ bats at bay – they rallied for 6 runs in the 7th inning to put the game out of reach.

The Pitching

Rich Hill, who put up solid numbers in the month of August, battled to give the Dodgers 6 innings after struggling early in this one.  The Mets managed to scratch 4 loud runs across in the first 3 innings, with a pair of 2-run home runs from Conforto and Jay Bruce.  After the 3rd, Hill settled in and blanked the Mets offense for the next 3 innings.  In the 101-pitch outing, Hill tacked on 8 strikeouts while allowing 7 hits and 1 walk.

The bullpen managed to pick up right where Hill left off.  The combination of Baez and Rosscup looked solid, with Zac striking out the side in the bottom of the 8th.  The 9th inning wasn’t quite as clean.  In his first appearance off the DL, Josh Fields loaded the bases without logging an out and handed the ball off to Pat Venditte who was forced to clean up the mess.  Venditte retired the next 3 Mets’ hitters in order, to close out the lopsided 11 – 4 victory.

The Offense

The Dodgers’ bats were the story in this one, with some key contributions coming from unexpected guys.

Austin Barnes opened up the scoring for the Dodgers with his own 2-run blast in the 3rd – it was just the second home run he’s hit this year in what has been a disappointing season for him.  In the following inning, the Dodgers rallied for 3 runs to take a 5 – 4 lead, backed by David Freese’s first home run in Dodger blue and some poor defense on the Mets part.

Deep Freese. pic.twitter.com/1TKQM8bSlI

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 5, 2018

For the first time in the last 7 games, the Dodgers offense was able to put up more than 3 runs – and they weren’t done yet.

In the 7th, Machado, Freese, Hernandez, and Grandal all collected RBIs as the Dodgers brought 9 hitters to the plate and put up a crooked 6 runs.

In all, it was refreshing to see the squad get it done with a combination of the long ball and key hits with the runners in scoring position.  They finished the day a solid 4 for 11 with runners in scoring position.

Looking Ahead…

The Dodgers have now won 9 of their last 11.  Despite being perhaps the hottest team in the NL, they still sit .5 game behind the Rockies and just a single game ahead of the Diamondbacks.  Ryu will undoubtedly look to attack the reeling Mets’ offense tomorrow, to secure the Dodgers 4th straight series victory and build some momentum heading into a huge series against the Rockies in Colorado.