Ross Stripling Dominant As Dodgers Blank Pirates

The Dodgers rolled into PNC park Tuesday, after having just swept Colorado. The Pirates had just come off nearly being no-hit by Michael Wacha on Sunday, only to meet Ross Stripling, emerging Dodger ace? After a rain delay pushed the game back just under an hour, the Dodgers showed their train is still rolling.

The Pitching

Ross Stripling has been making a legitimate All-star case for himself so far this year. Tonight he pitched 5 innings, struck out 5, 4 hits, on 89 pitches. Chicken Strip also gave up no free passes. 4 relievers from the bullpen succeeded Chicken Strip (I prefer Bawce Stripling.) Scott Alexander, Josh Fields, Pedro Baez, and Daniel Hudson only allowed 3 hits and let no one cross the plate.

The Offense

Joc Pederson continued his recently found power stroke by crushing 1-0 pitch into the right field stands for a two-run home run.

#Dodgers 2 @ #Pirates 0 [T2-0o]Joc Pederson homers (4): fly ball to RF (2-run)

Exit velocity: 103mph
Distance: 382ft
Angle: 23°?

— Home Run Tracker (@DingerTracker) June 6, 2018

Matt Kemp hit a sacrifice fly in the third inning which scored Chris Taylor. In the top of the fourth inning, Yasiel puig hit his seventh home run of the season (all since returning from his DL stint) into the bleachers. The Wild Horse has been hot since early May. In the sixth inning, Cody Bellinger hit his ninth dinger of the year, giving himself a chance to exhale amidst his struggles as of late.

Analysis

The Dodgers are now at .500, and only a game and a half out of first place. The NL west is up for grabs, with the last place San Diego Padres only 4.5 games back of first. With the plethora of injuries the Dodgers have had this year, Ross Stripling’s success has been a much needed boost to this Dodger team. He’s now 4-1 with a 1.52 ERA. His case for making the all-star team becomes more prevalent with every start. Yasiel Puig is recovering from a slow start in a big way, having a very hot bat since May 13th. The Dodgers and their fans must surely be encouraged with Cody Bellinger’s blast. Still, the discussion of him being sent to the minors will remain until he can do this more often. With all the injuries the Dodgers have had and the poor start–being 1.5 games out of first and playing great baseball is impressive, folks.