The Los Angeles Dodgers clinched a series win over the Washington Nationals on Tuesday with a 9-3 victory led by the offensive performances of Jason Heyward, Freddie Freeman and J.D. Martinez.
Heyward opened the scoring with a solo home run to right-center field in the second inning, which gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead. However, the Nationals came back to tie it in the third on a single from Joey Meneses that drove in Ildemaro Vargas.
But the Dodgers rallied in the bottom of the third, putting up a three-run inning to re-take the lead. Mookie Betts and Freeman opened the inning with back-to-back singles, and then the former scored on a ground-rule double from Max Muncy.
J.D. Martinez hit a sacrifice fly to center field, which drove in Freeman and let Muncy advance to third. The inning was capped off by an RBI single from Heyward that gave the Dodgers a 4-1 lead.
That score remained until the seventh inning when the Nationals put up a rally of their own against Alex Vesia, who was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City.
Hey, J-Hey! pic.twitter.com/V9I1zVg5aS
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 31, 2023
JD in three straight games? Just Dingers. pic.twitter.com/XojobCTONj
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 31, 2023
Freddie Freeman is on another planet. pic.twitter.com/N70vu8gBMH
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 31, 2023
Victory formation!
Dodgers x @Yaamava pic.twitter.com/WMPIbPaStM
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 31, 2023
Keibert Ruiz hit a solo home run to start the inning, and the lead was cut to just one run when Luis García singled in Lane Thomas. The Dodgers then utilized Evan Phillips to escape a two-out situation with two runners on.
In the bottom half of the seventh, the Dodgers added some much-needed insurance when Muncy hit a two-out single, which was followed by Martinez hitting his 12th homer of the season, making the score 6-3.
The offense continued to produce in the eighth, which saw James Outman get hit by a pitch before Miguel Rojas reached on an error. Outman ended up scoring on a wild pitch before Austin Barnes singled to put runners at the corners.
Betts grounded into a double play that cleared the bases and allowed a run to score. And just for good measure, Freeman hit his 10th homer of the season before Muncy flied out to end the offensive night for the Dodgers.
Tony Gonsolin’s productive start for Dodgers
Tony Gonsoliun was on the mound for his seventh start of the season, but he was a somewhat mixed bag on an overall productive day. Gonsolin pitched six innings while giving up just three hits and one run, but he also gave up more free passes than strikeouts.
The right-hander walked two batters and hit another while only striking out two. Gonsolin also was dangerously close to giving up multiple home runs as the Nationals’ hitters had a few flyouts to the warning track.
Despite only throwing 70 pitches through his six innings, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts opted to remove his starter from the game and hand it over to the bullpen.
Phillips and Vesia both recorded a hold, while Justin Bruihl pitched the final inning.
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